A new community based fund will launch this year in Detroit in an effort to aid housing recovery, reports Fast Company writer Adele Peters. Neighbors will have the opportunity to invest in the fund, which will then invest in housing, and as the community develops, community members will get a financial return.
“A lot of people want to participate in Detroit’s recovery, but unfortunately, they feel that because they’re not a billionaire, millionaire, celebrity or politician, they feel they can’t . . . the real desire was to create a situation where residents were able to come together to collectively invest and build up our community in a way that everyone benefits,” says Kwaku Osei, CEO of Cooperative Capital, the startup creating the new fund, which will be the first of its network of similar funds across the country.
The first fund will allow anyone in Michigan to invest a minimum of $1,000, which gives them a vote on monthly investments in Detroit. (Each additional $1,000 gives another vote, up to a maximum of 10 votes.) An investment committee will review and rate all opportunities, and the larger group of investors will vote on the top five. The winning choice will go into a due diligence stage, in which Cooperative Capital will determine if the investment can produce at least a 6% annual rate of return.
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