Impact Investing in Place: Opportunity Zones and Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

Description

Place-based impact investing is investing that is designed to combine financial returns with positive economic and/or environmental impacts in specific locations. This type of investment has long been the purview of economic development organizations, but shifts in ownership of capital and availability of methods and opportunities for investing that capital, have given rise to new organizations and approaches that complement economic development, through organizations like the Hudson Valley Startup Fund locally. This program is designed to introduce and highlight several approaches to place-based investing, including for-profit and non-profit seed funding models, as well as the much-anticipated Opportunity Zones program. - How are investment models utilized to support entrepreneurship, new business starts, business growth, and job creation today? - What are best practices and lessons learned from these investment models? How is access to capital evolving to support starting and growing businesses across the region?