{"id":33162,"date":"2021-09-29T14:58:09","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T18:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/?p=33162"},"modified":"2021-10-01T19:50:01","modified_gmt":"2021-10-01T23:50:01","slug":"greenmoney-interview-series-community-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.greenmoney.com\/2025\/greenmoney-interview-series-community-investors\/","title":{"rendered":"GreenMoney Interview Series: Community Investors"},"content":{"rendered":"
>> Back to October 2021 Issue<\/a><\/div>\n

Welcome to the GreenMoney Interviews<\/strong> series. This issue features two Women of Color who are emerging leaders in SRI and community investing:\u00a0 Kimberly Jones of<\/strong> Self-Help Federal Credit Union<\/strong> interviews Nicole Middleton Holloway of<\/strong> Natural Investments<\/strong>.<\/h3>\n

Find their bios at the end of the interview.<\/p>\n

Kimberly Jones<\/em><\/strong> opens:<\/strong> When I was approached to write this article, I knew immediately that I wanted to speak with Nicole, to get her take on the impact that community investing has on communities of color, particularly now in the aftermath of the country\u2019s response to the pandemic and the civic unrest that has occurred over the past year and a half. We had a spirited and lively conversation about impact investing and her own personal journey within this sector. Let\u2019s begin\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Self-HelpKJ:\u00a0 <\/strong>Hi Nicole. Thank you so much for agreeing to do this and let\u2019s just jump into it. From your perspective, as a wealth manager, what does community investing mean to you and why is it important?<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Nicole Middleton Holloway: <\/strong>\u00a0Community investing is an investment in a targeted community based on impact and need. It is typically an investment that doesn’t have market rate rates of return, because the point of the investment is to uplift a certain community need. It can be for a variety of different areas, from funding entrepreneurs and micro enterprises and other small businesses to focusing on specific communities, like low income, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) communities. It can be focused on healthy food systems, affordable housing, or wherever there’s a need. The investment can be an investment note or a CD, which is something that we, at Natural Investments do quite often through places like Self Help Credit Union or Hope Credit Union.<\/p>\n

And they are so important because of the need for community institutions or funds, who are trying to address real critical social needs or divestment in these communities, as well as the systemic barriers that these communities have experienced for decades. There’s so much wealth disparity and those individuals, families, and institutions that have wealth and the ability to accept and incorporate community investing into their overall portfolio can have real impact. And at certain levels, for some clients, this is their primary focus area.<\/p>\n

I’ve personally seen the benefit of a community investment as an entrepreneur and woman of color business owner. The ability to grow my business and my practice came out of the support that I received as a result of these funds invested into CDFIs (Community Development Financial Institutions.) So this is very personal as I come from a community that had been disenfranchised. But I also get to see how it’s exciting for an investor to be more engaged with their wealth and see that engagement with a community instead of just investing in a regular mutual or index fund.<\/p>\n

KJ:\u00a0 <\/strong>Are your clients who do community investing basing it on their own values and interests or are you pushing them to explore ways to have an impact?<\/em><\/p>\n