This post was originally produced for Forbes.
A podcast version of the interview is available via Apple Podcasts, Google Play or Spotify.
“Biomimicry is the practice of solving problems by asking the question, ‘What would nature do?” says Boston Impact Initiative Fund founder and President Deborah Frieze. Her answer to that question has her flipping conventional investing wisdom on its head to close the racial wealth divide in Boston.
While she hopes the fund will serve as a model for other communities, she notes that the wealth divide in Boston is on par with Atlanta for the worst in the country. “The median net worth for a white family in Boston is $247,000, which is way above the national. The median net worth for a black family in Boston is $8. It’s not $8,000 it’s not $800 it’s $8.”
Even in the context of impact investing generally, she says, “We’re heading in the wrong direction where the wealth divide continues to get larger.”
“So, when we structure investments, we flip the risk-ret…