Initiatives

Closing racial income and wealth gaps

Our initiatives, Closing the Gaps Network and Capital for the New Majority, are part of what we believe it will take to close racial income and wealth gaps. We are working with local governments across the country to focus on the root causes of racial and economic inequality in America, to address those problems and to measure our effectiveness, with accountability to local partners and the communities they serve. At Living Cities, we also see capital as a key driver of social change and an important tool needed to shift power within systems. We use our funds, position of influence and unique risk models to test risk perception and assessment and encourage investors to use their capital in historically underserved and overlooked populations.

Current Initiatives

Member Collective Action

We have worked alongside our Board to understand the effects of racial inequity, as it relates to our work and how we can best leverage our collective power to eliminate gaps, and are becoming increasingly aligned and focused toward our…

Capital for the New Majority

We test innovative investment approaches to address the racial wealth gap, shift power within the capital systems and achieve better outcomes for all people in U.S. cities. In a few decades, Black, Latinx and other communities of color will make…

Closing the Gaps Network

The Closing the Gaps (CTG) Network is a ten-year initiative that brings together leaders from cities across the country who are committed to imagining what an anti-racist society might look like, and to playing an important role in building it…

Past Initiatives

  • City Accelerator

    City teams - both public servants and local partners - tested new approaches to improve municipal services, practices and policies.

  • Racial Equity Here

    Living Cities supported five U.S. cities committed to improving racial equity and advancing opportunity for all.

  • Innovation Teams

    We partnered with Bloomberg Philanthropies to support a growing network of cities with dedicated innovation teams that developed and deployed bold ideas to tackle the biggest issues facing city governments.

  • Working Cities Challenge

    Public, private and nonprofit leaders across Massachusetts and Rhode Island teamed up to help resolve economic issues in smaller cities – and challenged leaders in those communities to do the same.

  • Civic Tech and Data Collaborative

    We worked with Code for America and the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership to support teams of civic technologists, data practitioners and government officials in cities while they developed data and technology solutions to address pressing problems.

  • Pay for Success

    We invested in Pay for Success partnerships to test new ways of investing in human capital, and to develop a commercially viable market for doing so.

  • Project on Municipal Innovation

    We worked with the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center to convene and support a network of mayoral chiefs of staff and policy leaders who advance transformative change through innovation in city government to improve the lives of residents.