Featured Thought Leaders
Earlier this month, ImpactPHL hosted the sixth iteration of Total Impact Summit, a multi-day convening bringing together investors, entrepreneurs, and ecosystem leaders committed to building a more just and equitable economy in Philadelphia and beyond. Georgia’s impact investing ecosystem was represented at TIS25, and we’ve invited three thought leaders – Anna Cable, Kelsey Russell, and Khaliff Davis – to share their key takeaways and experiences. Their perspectives offer a window into the evolving landscape of impact investing and the power of place-based collaboration.
While Total Impact Summit 2025 (TIS25) has historically focused on the Northeast, it now attracts a national audience of impact investors, wealth advisors, and community builders. This year, conference programming centered around three tracks: People, Planet, and Place. The third track, “Place,” sparked a number of ideas that Anna, Kelsey, and Khaliff felt were important to share with Georgia’s impact investing ecosystem!
The Urgent Need for Reimagined Investing
At this year’s Summit, a clear message emerged: despite the uncertainty and challenges shaping the current political and economic landscape, hope and collaboration remain powerful forces for change. The energy in the room wasn’t naïve optimism. Rather it was rooted in the resilience of communities, the momentum of cross-sector partnerships, and the clarity that the old systems simply don’t serve the needs of most people. In her opening remarks, ImpactPHL CEO Kafi Lindsey, one of the event’s keynote voices, offered a compelling metaphor: like a caterpillar in metamorphosis, society is in a liminal stage—transforming through the power of “imaginal cells.” These are the seeds of a new reality—innovative ideas, models, and movements that hold the potential to reshape our economic systems into something more just, regenerative, and inclusive.
Examining Financial Tools: Opportunity Zones
The reimaging and reshaping of our community investment and capital systems is happening now. For example, there’s currently a field-level examination and conversation on the future of Opportunity Zones (OZs). While OZ 1.0 fell short of delivering the deep, place-based impact many in the community development field had hoped for, there is cautious optimism that proposed reauthorization efforts could correct course. The new proposals suggest stronger requirements around impact measurement and a renewed focus on directing capital to rural and low-income census tracts, potentially aligning more closely with the original spirit of the policy.
"Backing" Front-Line Community Wealth-Builders
Financial instruments, tools, and community investment-related policy are incredibly important components of a reimagined investment system, but so too are innovative, frontline investment deployers and intermediaries focused on community wealth-building. Wealth-building investing emerged as a central theme throughout TIS25, with presenters highlighting models like The Guild, Chicago TREND, and Kensington Corridor Trust. Each of these initiatives is working to shift power and ownership back into the hands of communities. Tools like community-based and trust-based underwriting, exemplified by organizations like Common Future, are helping to reimagine capital deployment in ways that center people over profits and challenge the extractive tendencies of traditional finance.
Khaliff Davis joined a panel discussion exploring how place-based strategies that balance financial sustainability with meaningful resident participation, creating development that builds local wealth, expands opportunity, and preserves the unique character and cultural assets that make places worth calling home.
From Traditional to Holistic Real Estate Development
A Thought-Provoking Case Study: ConnCORP (New Haven, CT)
While macroeconomic shifts such as reduced federal funding have forced communities to seek new sources of capital, place-based investing has emerged as a compelling solution, fueled by both need and opportunity. These investments increasingly go beyond real estate to support holistic, community-informed developments that serve as economic engines. When done thoughtfully, they create the kind of “rising tide” outcomes that benefit investors and communities alike. To illustrate this in action, TIS25 featured a thought-provoking case study on the Connecticut Community Outreach Revitalization Program (ConnCORP), a New Haven-based economic development organization focused on acquisition and revitalization of commercial properties, investment in new and existing local community-based businesses, and business attraction.
After more than five years of study, community engagement, and project planning, in October 2024, ConnCORP broke ground on a $200M large-scale redevelopment effort of Dixwell Plaza. When complete, the development itself includes elements that consider the holistic needs of the community, such as: a full-service grocery store and market, early childhood education and daycare, entrepreneurial incubator space, mixed-income housing (150 units!), homeownership and workforce housing options, a food hall for local vendors, and a performing arts space for cultural expression. Listening to Anna Blanding, ConnCORP’s Chief Investment Officer, share about ConnCORP’s transformative $200M project in New Haven led us to think more creatively about Georgia and cap tables. With a catalytic $50M philanthropic donation accelerating pre-development, the project is poised to deliver significant impact across economic, social, and cultural domains.
“Deeply embedded within ConnCAT’s vision statement is economic empowerment—and that begins with a focus on jobs.” This commitment translates into measured outcomes around job creation during and after construction, with an estimated $39M increase in labor income and 131 jobs over four years for residents and includes workforce training integrated into ConnCAT’s state-of-the-art headquarters.”
