The Racial Equity, Economics, Finance, and Sustainability (REEFS) program is designed to encourage stakeholders in finance to think holistically about integrating racial equity across their investment portfolios, to advance opportunities for greater representation of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) in the field, and to support frameworks and approaches that support wealth-building in these communities. This multi-faceted approach seeks to acknowledge and address the persistent structural race-based discrimination in the US, which underpins the significant gaps in access to career and financial opportunities.
Since its launch in 2014, Croatan Institute has made tackling structural racism in finance central to our mission. In response to the persistent racial segregation and lack of diversity we observed within the sustainable business and investing community (and financial services more broadly), we organized an internal “brain trust” composed of some of the Institute’s advisory board members Sharlene Brown (now Director of REEFS) and Henry McKoy, as well as senior fellows like Josh Humphreys, and our late colleague Fern Jones, to begin grappling with these challenges. In 2018, after years of engagement with professionals of color working on equity issues, the Racial Equity, Economics, Finance, and Sustainability (REEFS) program and its Steering Committee were formalized.
At the 2018 Croatan Forum, the first REEFS Roundtable was held, bringing together more than 40 stakeholders to advance opportunities for black and brown communities.
Learn more about REEFS in our recent Croatan Conversation on Redirecting Capital to Accelerate Racial Equity: Leveraging Cash Allocations
Re-Allocate encourages investors and capital allocators to pursue racial equity investing within their investment portfolios. The goal of the campaign is to encourage investment managers and decision- makers to reallocate 15% of AUM over three-years to invest in America’s emerging majority.
Today, the investment community must be collaborators willing to invest transformative capital in communities of color — both to address historical wrongs and seize future opportunities — that bank on the full potential of all citizens in this nation. This series showcases investable opportunities across asset classes.
Since the events of 2020, our nation has arrived at a crossroads. To create a more equitable future for all Americans, our nation must address our history ridden with racial inequities that have unleveled the playing field.
Croatan Institute Senior Fellow Sharlene Brown leads a discussion with community development practitioners on how cash allocations can tackle racial inequities.
This project aims to increase the financial health of Black and other minority farmers and landowners through online financial coaching workshops supplemented by one-to-one coaching. This work will help build strong financial systems that lead to greater resilience and improved access to wealth-building opportunities for these farmers.
To grow opportunities in black and brown communities, significant long-term investments are necessary.
We are developing an initiative, the BIPOC Leaders Advancing an Inclusive and Sustainable Economy
(BLAISE) program, which will expand opportunities for students in HBCUs and HSIs with an interest in social impact and finance to gain knowledge, skills, and networks.
Panelists explore opportunities and challenges to investing in communities of color to support entrepreneurship, wealth-building, and greater professional inclusion.
This discussion will help impact investors, funders, and practitioners better understand the notions of persistent poverty, structural exclusion and explore misconceptions about the face of rural poverty.
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