Massachusetts Investor Club

Catalog

The Latino Support Network Inc

Our mission is to provide resources, services and to serve as a connector in order to support the integration process of our Latino community and other immigrant communities in the United States. The Latino Support Network is also a Massachusetts certified Community Development Corporation (CDC) and we work collaboratively with our local residents, community-based organizations, local government and others to create affordable housing in the city of Lynn and provide pathways to increase home ownership and create greater wealth in our community.

Olive Branch Multiservice

Olive Branch Multiservice was born out of a passion to give back to the communities that helped shape me when I was younger. In April 2021, with fear and uncertainty in the midst, God led me to take a leap of faith and launch my business. I am confident that God is going help those struggling with financial instability to obtain financial freedom.

Through this business I want to not only bring valuable services to the communities I serve but also provide education to the same. In this way, the clients I serve can eventually be able to remove themselves from the dependency of these services and pursue potential entrepreneurial ventures of their own. My goal is to equip my clients with the services they need but also the tools to succeed.

EarlyBird Education

EarlyBird was formed to change the learning trajectory of children nationwide by implementing a proactive, preventive approach to struggling readers. The company was founded in 2019 by Carla E. Small, Nadine Gaab, Ph.D., and Yaacov Petscher, Ph.D., to commercialize a technology developed at Boston Children’s Hospital based on the research of the scientific co-founders, and other leading literacy and brain scientists.

Together, they are working to help educators, parents, and clinicians transform students’ lives through the early detection of reading difficulties, including dyslexia. Market adoption has been rapid, with districts across the country using EarlyBird, 90% customer renewal rates and over 10K children using EarlyBird today.

Roots Rising

Roots Rising’s mission is to empower youth and build community through food and farming. Our vision is to lift up teens as community changemakers and strengthen the local food system through the transformational power of meaningful work.

We have two main initiatives: our Pittsfield Farmers Market, the first teen-run market in the region, and our Youth Crews, where we pay Pittsfield teens to work on farms, in food pantries and at our own market. We are in the planning phase to launch a Youth Farm.

Berkshire Agricultural Ventures

Berkshire Agricultural Ventures (BAV) is a nonprofit organization founded in 2016 that supports the development and viability of local farms and food businesses in Berkshire County, MA, Columbia and Dutchess Counties, NY, and northwest Litchfield County, CT. BAV supports regional food enterprises through low-interest loans, grants, and free one-on-one technical and business assistance.

These investments return resources to the larger economy by generating income and jobs and ensuring food security in the Berkshire-Taconic region.

Casa Mariposa

We provide culturally inclusive, responsive and respectful education and subsidized housing to marginalized immigrants/families as they navigate adjustment to life in Lynn. We do so through direct services and community engagement.

We envision a world in which immigrants and their families are welcomed, valued and given opportunities to demonstrate themselves as productive and vibrant members of their community.

Our education programming supports Casa members by facilitating adjustment and strengthening communication, self help and self care skills.

We promote equitable, safe and affordable housing for immigrants and their families in Lynn through direct housing apportionment, rent sponsorship and community engagement.

The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, Inc.

Founded in 1982, The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts serves as the region’s clearinghouse of healthy emergency food to households who experience food insecurity. Our mission is to feed our neighbors in need and lead the community to end hunger. We distribute healthy food through a network of 175 local food pantries and meal sites, and directly to households through our own 76 Mobile Food Bank and Brown Bag: Food for Elders sites. We also provide SNAP outreach and enrollment assistance, nutrition education, and public education and policy advocacy. In addition, we partner with community health centers and hospitals to provide food assistance and referrals for wrap-around social services. We own two farms that grow organic vegetables.

Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston

The Arts & Business Council of Greater Boston (A&BC) invests in the people and organizations that create the art we love. We believe that creativity, the arts, and those that create art are an integral part of communities, a healthy economy, and an educational environment. A&BC helps artists and communities thrive through integrated and responsive programs and services designed to support and nurture the creative ecosystem. Our four core programs, Artists’ Practice, Business on Board, Creative Campus, and Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, educate and empower the creative workforce while catalyzing valuable partnerships between the arts and business communities.

Family Health Project

Family Health Project (www.family-health-project.org) has undertaken a simple, replicable program to help new mothers and their babies facing life with inadequate resources. We provide new mothers $400 each month for 36 months. Money is provided without condition, beginning one month after the baby’s birth.

Participants are referred into the program by federally qualified community health centers (FQCHCs). Funds are managed and distributed through a corporate debit card partner. Participant onboarding and ongoing support services are provided by our collaborating social services firm. Our initial pilot programs in Lynn and Roxbury will demonstrate the scale-ability of this simple, reliable service delivery system.

Lawrence CommunityWorks

Lawrence CommunityWorks is a CDC that weaves together community planning, organizing, & asset building with high-quality affordable housing & commercial development to create vibrant neighborhoods & empowered residents. LCW utilizes a three-pronged approach to revitalization for Lawrence, focusing on the city’s people, places & systems. By facilitating conversations & actions on community priorities, we engage partners & a network of youth/adult residents in opportunities to move themselves & the city of Lawrence forward. We have built/renovated 400+ units of affordable housing, created 45,000+ sq ft of multi-use commercial space, & attracted $120M in public & private investment to catalyze equitable, resident-led development.

Employment Technology Fund (ETF@JFFLabs)

Since 2017, the Employment Technology Fund (“ETF”) has invested in early-stage technologies that help adults with low to middle incomes secure jobs that lead to economic advancement. In 2019, ETF merged with JFF, a national nonprofit whose mission is to build a society in which everyone has access to the resources needed for economic advancement. For 40 years, JFF has worked with partners to improve labor market outcomes for those who historically experience structural barriers in our education, workforce, and economy. By leveraging JFF’s national reach, ETF is scaling impact to support the 75 million+ Americans struggling to find meaningful employment.

EatWell Meal Kits

We believe wholesome food changes lives. EatWell creates prescription meal kits to prevent food insecurity, diabetes, and reduce the associated healthcare costs. EatWell’s evidence-based, prescription meal kits are paired with an educational platform that drives sustainable behavior change and provides novel data for our analytics product. Meals are created by a Michelin-trained chef and meet Brigham and Women’s Hospital dietary standards. Through partnerships with ACOs and health centers our kits are prescribed to high risk patients and reimbursed via MA Medicaid.

Berkshire Immigrant Center

The Berkshire Immigrant Center was founded in 1997 by the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires to assist immigrants in Berkshire County, mainly Eastern European Jewish refugees resettling in the area at the time. Our mission is to advocate for the rights of all immigrants by helping them navigate the complex U.S. immigration system with affordable legal services, local resources, and education. We provide our clients with tools to help them overcome financial and cultural barriers, with the goals of strengthening civic engagement and creating equal opportunity for all. Berkshire Immigrant Center supports changes to systems which are unjust to immigrants, and supports state and national immigration advocacy efforts.

Capital Good Fund

Capital Good Fund is a nonprofit, U.S. Treasury-certified CDFI headquartered in Providence, RI. Founded in 2009, we offer small-dollar personal loans and one-on-one financial and health coaching to lower-income families in seven states–RI, DE, MA, IL, FL, TX, and IL–with plans for expansion to additional states. Our loans range from $300 – $50,000 and are most commonly used for car repair, rent, utilities, security deposits, and similar expenses; immigration costs (citizenship, green card, asylum, etc.); and residential renewable energy and efficiency measures. We have financed 8,500 loans totaling $17 million (with a 95% repayment rate) and graduated 1,800 clients through our one-on-one Financial and Health Coaching Program.

TLE Center for Urban Entrepreneurship

The TLE Center for Urban Entrepreneurship (TLECFUE) is a startup non-profit that helps under-resourced micro entrepreneurs who are either working solo or with a few employees start and grow businesses. When we launched in 2015, our primary focus was to provide support to those with the greatest barriers to the resources to develop a business, particularly those who identify as Black and Latinx, previously incarcerated, and LBGTQ and who historically have not been given access to the knowledge and means to establish an independent, thriving business. Since then, we have expanded our scope of service to support all under-resourced entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on the beauty and personal care services industry across Massachusetts.

Sunwealth

Sunwealth is a clean energy investment firm on a mission to change who has access to renewable energy by changing the way we invest in it. Since 2014, the company has invested over $80 million in community-based solar projects providing clean energy access, savings and green jobs to underserved communities while delivering strong, stable returns to investors. Sunwealth has attracted investment from leading impact investors including Calvert Impact Capital, Sierra Club Foundation and Boston Impact Initiative and more than 400 individuals, family offices, foundations, endowments and corporations. In 2021, Impact Assets named Sunwealth to its IA50 list of impact fund managers. Sunwealth is a certified B Corp and a public benefit corporation.

New Majority Capital Management LLC

New Majority Capital was setup in January 2022. Our impact thesis is to help close the racial and gender wealth gap by enabling under-served entrepreneurs become small business “asset” owners so they can build generational wealth. We provide BIPOC and Women entrepreneurs who are looking to acquire a business from owners who are retiring. We provide technical support services around skills training, sourcing of businesses for sale, due diligence, access to financing, mentorship, and coaching. We are launching a non extractive revenue-based financing to help entrepreneurs acquire these businesses and a unique pay it forward model where the entrepreneurs we back become LPs in an evergreen fund.

Mill Cities Community Investments (MCCI)

MCCI bridges the capital access gap in low-to-moderate income communities and under-resourced populations across MA through a range of low-cost loan programs and small business training and technical assistance.MCCI is a certified CDFI and Community Development Corporation. MCCI’s 7-person staff is headquartered in Lawrence, MA and governed by a Board of Directors comprising local community and banking leaders.

NurtureTalk (Mother of Fact)

NurtureTalk Inc. is an early stage social impact company focused on maternal and infant health in Massachusetts. There has been a 30% increase in maternal deaths over the last 2 years; 85% of these deaths are preventable and lack of equitable maternal care costs the US $32 billion annually. Female founder and CEO, Emily Sylvester is a mom of 3, renowned nutrition expert, and Chair of the MA Breastfeeding Coalition. Our virtual care platform connects maternal care providers to wraparound registered dietitian services for the most vulnerable birthing people and babies. Our mission is to eliminate the deficit of equitable maternal & infant nutrition-related care for all households & healthcare systems.

Empathetics, Inc.

Empathetics is a SaaS empathy education company that helps healthcare systems suffering from employee resignations, staff burnout and struggling patient experience scores — all of which have a direct negative impact on profitability. We address these crises with evidence-based e-learning solutions and virtual workshops, based on randomized controlled trials conducted at Mass. General Hospital that have been replicated by our clients. We make a measurable difference in patient experience, employee resilience, healthcare outcomes, and reduce the risk of malpractice suits and increase hospital profitability.

Harborlight Homes

Harborlight Homes is a nearly 60 year old Community Development Corporation. We are committed to creating housing opportunity and supports for economically excluded families North of Boston. We currently house 600 people in almost 450 homes with a pipeline to create or preserve another 400 homes in the next 5 years. We are also very active in blending economically accessible housing models along with supportive services for vulnerable populations such as seniors, homeless individuals and families, people with disabilities and those aging out of foster care. Our goal is to make sure there is space in each community where people of different races and classes can make a high quality home.

North Shore Community Development Coalition

North Shore CDC invests in neighborhoods to create thriving communities. Our vision is that every neighborhood is one of choice and opportunity. We were founded as a community organizing initiative and continue to have a robust community building team. We have built a portfolio of 430 affordable homes in the North of Boston region. We have nationally-recognized public art & youth development programs (Punto Urban Art Museum & YouthBuild-North Shore), and operate small business technical assistance programming designed for immigrant and BIPOC-owned entrepreneurs. North Shore CDC has developed a brand for integrating arts strategies into each of our housing developments, creating beautiful, inspiring environments for residents & neighbors.

Community Health Programs

Community Health Programs (CHP) is a non-profit network that provides extensive medical, nutrition, health and wellness, and family support services. We are committed to a whole-person approach to care, delivered through integrated primary, pediatric, OB-GYN and dental care. As the region’s only federally funded health center, CHP provides critically needed access and is able to provide care to all residents regardless of citizenship status, insurance, or ability to pay. Thus, we play a significant role in contributing to the health and wellbeing of the region’s children, adults and families. Our mission is to improve the health of people throughout the Berkshires by delivering exceptional, compassionate health care and family services.

Greenagers, Inc.

Greenagers, through employment programs, and service work, engages youth in environmental conservation, sustainable farming, and vocational skills building. In the Berkshires, and tri-state area, our trail crews maintain existing trails and build new trails for local, regional, and national conservation organizations. Our Farm Team stewards April Hill Farm and works with local farmers and the community, learning sustainable animal husbandry and organic agriculture. They also install front-yard gardens for area families, glean produce for local food service agencies, and promote food justice through community work and advocacy.

BUILDING AUDACITY INC

Building Audacity is a nonprofit organization with offices in Boston, MA, Lynn, MA, and Charlotte, NC. Based on community interest, we create pathways otherwise not available to low income Black and other youth of color. Specifically, we listen. Our ability to listen to the least and last heard has allowed us to launch several community led efforts that provide paid opportunities to court involved youth, state involved youth, and low income youth. These efforts we call Change Projects. We mentor youth organizers to develop these Projects that have become multi-pronged complex programs.