How Opportunity Zones Cut Taxes And Build Communities

The difference between community redevelopment and gentrification isn’t entirely a subjective judgment left to the eye of the beholder, say Fran Seegull and Jen Collins. Fran is the executive director for the U.S. Impact Investment Alliance and Jen is a fellow-in-residence at the Beeck Center at Georgetown University. They are leading minds on community-based impact investing under Opportunity Zones created by the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act.

The law that created Opportunity Zones did not limit the investments to those with demonstrable social impact. The U.S. Impact Investment Alliance and the Beeck Center have partnered to develop a framework for investing in Opportunity Zones intended to be a defining difference between community redevelopment and gentrification.

Interview with Fran Seegull, the Executive Director of U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.

The following is the pre-interview with Fran Seegull. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above.

What is the problem you solve and how do you solve it?

The U.S. Impact Investing Alliance is committed to raising awareness of impact investing in the United States, fostering deployment of impact capital and working with stakeholders to help build the impact investing ecosystem.

The Alliance accomplishes this mission through a three-pillar strategy:

Advocate for supportive policies

Catalyze investor action

Build the movement of impact investing broadly

The Alliance’s long-term vision is to place measurable social and environmental impact alongside financial return and risk at the center of every investment decision.

Forbes article about Opportunity Zones:

More about U.S. Impact Investing Alliance:

Twitter: @ImpactInvestUS

Website: http://impinvalliance.org/

For-profit/Nonprofit: 501(c)3 Nonprofit

Scale: 3 employees

The U.S. Impact Investing Alliance is a field building organization committed to raising awareness of impact investing in the United States, foster deployment of impact capital across asset classes globally and working with stakeholders to help build the impact investing ecosystem.

More about Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation:

Twitter: @BeeckCenter

Website: beeckcenter.georgetown.edu

The Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation is an experiential hub housed at Georgetown University that incubates leading-edge, ecosystem ideas in service of the common good.

Fran Seegull. Photo Credit: Kim Raff (The New York Times)

Fran Seegull’s bio:

Twitter: @franseegull

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/franseegull/

Fran Seegull is the Executive Director of the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance.

Seegull was the Chief Investment Officer at ImpactAssets where she headed investment management for The Giving Fund—an impact investing donor advised fund. Seegull also oversaw product development and managed the Global Sustainable Agriculture and Microfinance Plus Notes.

Previously, Seegull was Managing Director at Funk Ventures, an early-stage impact venture capital firm. She also served as Vice President of Business Development at Novica, an online retailer of products made by artisans in developing economies.

Seegull has a BS in Economics from Barnard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She serves on the Investment Committee of Align Impact and on the Investment Advisory Committee of RSF Social Finance. She tweets at @franseegull.

Jen Collins.

Jen Collins’s bio:

Twitter: @JenCollins24

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jencollins24/

Jen Collins is a Fellow-in-Residence at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation. The Beeck Center is an experiential hub housed at Georgetown University that incubates leading-edge, ecosystem ideas in service of the common good. Jen leads the Beeck Center’s work on Opportunity Zones where her team supports the original intentionality of the legislation and uses the conversation swell around the topic to talk about and test new models of community investment.

A purpose-driven leader who has created a platform for success across a wide range of focus areas including real estate, hospitality, education, humanitarian and wellness initiatives, Jen has spent the majority of her career working on the principal ownership side of commercial real estate. Her experience includes roles with LaSalle Hotel Properties, Westbrook Partners, and Tishman Realty & Construction. In addition to her corporate roles, Jen has worked on various community development initiatives in East Africa, Harlem and Anacostia.

Jen is a graduate of Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, where she was a member of the Women’s Varsity Basketball team.

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