The Aspen Institute

In recent years, a national movement to increase pathways to ownership of appreciating community assets has been growing rapidly, with a focus on shared ownership of homes and businesses. But a new wave of innovation is demonstrating the potential of inclusively owned commercial real estate (inclusively owned CRE) as a powerful way to enable local stakeholders—residents, local businesses, nonprofits, and others—to gain an equity stake in, and directly benefit from, commercial development projects in their communities.

Inclusively owned CRE models are a win-win for community residents and outside investors as they set projects up for success. They bring new capital into previously disinvested communities; enable funders and investors to partner directly with community stakeholders; build a loyal customer base as residents have a financial stake in a development’s success; and build household wealth through resident and business ownership of appreciating assets.

Join the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP) and the Asset Funders Network (AFN) for a national webinar on January 30, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. ET to hear from community innovators who are leading inclusively owned CRE projects in communities across the country. The webinar will feature a new primer and case studies of Aspen FSP’s Wealth Innovation Cohort and a companion brief by AFN that explores the many ways philanthropy can engage in these and similar projects.

Participants will:

• Learn about the potential of inclusively owned CRE ownership to bring new capital into previously under-invested communities; give residents a financial stake in the growth and prosperity of their communities; and create new partnerships between community and outside investors
• Hear from innovators developing different models of inclusively owned CRE
• Discuss strategies for philanthropy to support new models in communities across the country

The webinar is open to all audiences. We invite you to share questions ahead of time during the registration process.

Register Now

Speakers

John Haines, Founder and Executive Director, Community Investment Trust (CIT)

John W. Haines is the founder and executive director of the Community Investment Trust (CIT) (investcit.com). He has worked in commercial banking and economic development for First Interstate Bank in Portland, OR; Trenton Business Assistance Corporation in Trenton, NJ; Chemonics International in Prague, Czech Republic; and ShoreBank Pacific and Mercy Corps in Portland, OR. He has designed and built a loan guarantee program to accelerate environmental investment in the Czech Republic, in-prison and reentry programs in Oregon and Washington, refugee farming incubation programs in Oregon, and the CIT nationwide. In 2020 he published his first book, Never Leaving Laramie – Travels in a Restless World (Oregon State University Press). John lives in Portland, OR.

Muneer Karcher-Ramos, Program Director,Vibrant & Equitable Communities, The McKnight Foundation

Muneer Karcher-Ramos is the Program Director of the Vibrant & Equitable Communities program at The McKnight Foundation, a Minneapolis-based family foundation. The Communities program at McKnight works to advance a vibrant future for all Minnesotans with shared power, prosperity, and participation.

Muneer brings more than 15 years of experience in the public, nonprofit, and philanthropic sectors advancing innovative asset building and income boosting strategies, implementing regenerative cultural economic approaches, and leading cross-sector initiatives. He joined McKnight in 2024 after leading the Office of Financial Empowerment at the City of Saint Paul, where he was a member of Mayor Carter’s cabinet and introduced several acclaimed initiatives to advance economic justice and shared ownership, including: guaranteed income, large-dollar children’s savings accounts, medical debt relief, fines and fees justice reforms, fair housing, reparative land and wealth policies, and the LOCAL Fund, which bolsters community wealth building through worker ownership of businesses and community ownership of commercial real estate.

Muneer served on the board of the Headwaters Foundation for Justice and is a fellow at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. He was named a 40 under 40 honoree by the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Business Journal, a Facing Race Awardee by the Saint Paul Foundation, and a participant in Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders Program. He received a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota.

Annika Korling Little, Managing Director, Asset Funders Network (AFN)

Annika Korling Little is the Managing Director of the Asset Funders Network (AFN), a leading national grantmaker membership organization focused on advancing equitable wealth building and economic mobility. Annika is a strong advocate for asset building and financial security with more than 25 years of experience working in the philanthropic, corporate, and nonprofit sectors.

Annika leads AFN’s programming strategy, partnerships, research, and special projects aimed at engaging philanthropy to connect, collaborate, and advance change. She joined AFN in 2012 as a consultant, launching the North Texas Regional network that became a blueprint for AFN’s place-based initiatives as well as conceptualizing and building the organization’s programming strategy, now encompassing seven issues areas and over 40 original research publications.

Prior to joining AFN, Annika supported a variety of clients as a strategic philanthropy consultant as well as working in the fields of philanthropy and corporate social responsibility. Annika served as a Senior Vice President and National Program Manager for Bank of America supporting the company’s lending, investing, and giving activities to strengthen the economic health of communities. Prior to joining Bank of America, Annika held a number of positions with Fannie Mae and the Fannie Mae Foundation with a focus on housing and community development issues, affordable housing policy, as well as government and industry relations.

Annika serves on the Board of RAISE Texas, a statewide coalition of diverse organizations and individuals, united around the common goal of building financial security for low- and moderate-income Texans. Annika is also a member of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Advisory Board (CAB), advising the Bureau about emerging consumer finance issues.

Annika received her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Government from American University, a Master’s in Business/Corporate Communications from Northwestern University, and a Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership from Boston College.

Wilson Lester, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Partners in Equity (PIE)

Wilson Lester is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Partners in Equity (PIE). PIE is a private equity investment company focusing on business purpose real estate.  Noting that transferable assets are the most sustainable pathway to generational wealth, PIE’s strategy focuses on underinvested communities with a higher index of tenancy versus ownership, offering an opportunity for more businesses to own where they operate.  Wilson’s leadership extends beyond traditional investment strategies.  He is the visionary behind Piedmont Business Capital, a pioneering North Carolina-based Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), which has strategically deployed millions in impact capital to uplift Black-owned businesses across the state. 

As the Co-Founder of the ACCESS Center for Equity and Success, he plays a crucial regional role in empowering minority business enterprises to access public and private contract opportunities, thereby advancing economic inclusion. His commitment to transformative philanthropy is evident through his roles as Treasurer and Investment Committee member at the Cone Health Foundation and his board positions at the Triad Advisory Council for Truist Bank and Greensboro College. His involvement with various boards dedicated to health and economic development, including past contributions to the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs Advocacy Committee, underscores his dedication to shaping policies that benefit Black businesses and foster resilient communities, highlighting his unwavering commitment to economic inclusion. 

Believing that generational wealth starts with educating family, Wilson created Nocho Park Redevelopment, an infill residential development company, to introduce his family to a living-learning lab that provides affordable housing in the community while building long-term assets. 

Wilson earned his undergraduate degree in Business Administration from Greensboro College and his Master of Science in Management, Strategy, and Leadership from the Eli Broad School of Business at Michigan State University. 

Jeff Mendelsohn, Founder, LocalCode

Over the last three decades, Jeff Mendelsohn has been an entrepreneur, advisor, and investor in social enterprises, aligning business with positive social and environmental outcomes.

Jeff is the Founder of LocalCode, a regenerative development platform working in urban communities that have long been subjected to profound structural inequities. LocalCode helps local leaders take on the largest mixed-use real estate developments in their communities, with local ownership built into the business model so the developments build long-term community wealth and well-being. Prior to LocalCode, he co-founded Green Valley Farm + Mill, a 172-acre land stewardship project in Sonoma County, with regenerative farming, forestry, and riparian zone management integrated with a residential community and event center.

Jeff received national recognition for his leadership role at New Leaf Paper, which launched the first 100% recycled papers across many product categories. When the Canadian Harry Potter books were printed on New Leaf EcoBook100, the company’s impact went global.

Jeff helped the B Lab founders launch the B Corporation movement, signing the B Corporation Declaration of Interdependence and making New Leaf Paper a Founding B Corporation.

Jeff is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute and a Forbes Top 30 Social Entrepreneur.

Ajia Morris, Founder, Greenline Initiative and LocalCode Kansas City

Founder of the Greenline Initiative and LocalCode Kansas City, Ajia Morris, is creating vehicles that increase generational wealth through redistributing ownership in historically marginalized and excluded communities. In addition to creating opportunities for low to moderate-income community members to invest in commercial real estate, Ajia helps transform renters into homeowners by providing access to nontraditional financing and creating a marketplace for investment. Ajia is devoted to revitalizing and transforming the neighborhoods on the Eastside of Kansas City, Missouri by empowering families and providing them with opportunities to build wealth by investing in their communities through real estate development projects.

Ajia received her BSBA in Business Administration from the University of Southern California. She earned her JD from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. In addition, she has served in various leadership roles in the public and nonprofit sectors, advocating for reparations, education workforce, and health equity. She is a wife, a mother of four, and a proud resident of the urban core. She is passionate about leveraging resources to positively impact as many vulnerable groups as possible. 

Ida Rademacher, Vice President, Aspen Institute; Co-Executive Director, Financial Security Program

Ida Rademacher is a vice president at the Aspen Institute and co-executive director of the Aspen Financial Security Program. She also launched and leads the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy. A leading voice on Americans’ financial health, Ida is also known for building innovative teams, initiatives and events that fuel new insights and fresh thinking about how to simultaneously build economic inclusion and economic growth. Her efforts have resulted in the creation of several cutting-edge initiatives and events, including the Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC), the Aspen Leadership Forum on Retirement Savings, Benefits21, the Global Inclusive Growth Summit and The Future of Wealth. 

In Ida’s prior work as Chief Program Officer at Prosperity Now (formerly CFED), she created the multi-institutional team responsible for leading the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Consumer Financial Well-Being Metrics Project, and also led the creation of Upside Down, a program examining ways the U.S. income tax code generates disparate wealth building opportunities and contributes to growing levels of wealth inequality. 

Ida has testified on numerous occasions before Congress and contributes regularly to news and commentary on economic policy and consumer finance topics in outlets including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, Politico and Marketplace.

Lyneir Richardson, CEO, The Chicago TREND Corporation (TREND)

Lyneir Richardson is CEO of The Chicago TREND Corporation (TREND), a commercial real estate firm that owns urban shopping centers and provides economic advisory services to corporations, government agencies and large philanthropic organizations. Lyneir is also Associate Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers Business School and serves as the Executive Director of the university’s Center for Urban Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.

Previously, Lyneir was the CEO of the primary economic development corporation in Newark, NJ, attracting investment and jobs to the city during two mayoral administrations. Prior to that, he also served as Vice President of General Growth Properties Inc. and led a national initiative to develop shopping centers in underserved urban areas. Early in his career, Lyneir founded LakeShore Development and Construction Company, which was named a U.S. Small Business Administration “Young Entrepreneur of the Year.” Lyneir began his career as a corporate attorney at the First National Bank of Chicago.

Lyneir holds an appointment as a Nonresident Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution. He graduated from Bradley University and the University of Chicago Law School.