What would it look like to practice diversity in a meaningful, radical way?

That question was in the back of our minds as we sought to reconnect capital and community.

We wake up every day looking for ways to build thriving communities by investing in small businesses, social enterprises and nonprofits—particularly by mobilizing capital into those communities that have been overlooked and underestimated by the traditional financial system.

The Community Finance Fellowship began as a wild idea to hire good people with diverse lived, learned, and labored experiences and get out of the way. On the one hand, we'd train them on the full lifecycle of impact investing and diversify the talent pipeline in finance. On the other, we'd learn and explore cultural nuances of why capital isn’t flowing in certain communities and inform the broader investment field.

Meet the fellows

Now two-thirds through their year with us (in a global pandemic no less), the inaugural cohort has learned a lot about the inner workings of an investment firm and taught our team a thing or two.

Join us on Zoom to hear straight from the first five fellows— Andrew Moncada, Essence Rodriguez, Louise Jordan, Crystal Sevilla, and Benson Ochira—about their career goals and their experiences thus far changing the face and flow of finance.

Fellowship program leaders will provide context and learnings from this pilot. Monica Munn of the WES Mariam Assefa Fund, a key funder of this fellowship, will also share their rationale for supporting a pilot leadership development program in finance and providing critical career pathways for first- and second-generation immigrants.