Reimagining Community Investing for the 21st Century

Many of our current federal and local policies for driving private capital into underserved communities are obsolete and do not meet the needs of a nation that has radically changed demographically and culturally over the past several decades. With the Reimaging Community Investing project, we are focused on a future for sustainable community investing that draws from the lessons of the past, but which results in systems change driven by policies that do not simply tinker around the edges.

The Beeck Center has solicited, examined, and designed policy solutions on a federal and local level to deliver positive social outcomes in communities that have been historically overlooked and underestimated by traditional investors. Potential policy recommendations include the creation and capitalization of a new form of tax-exempt community institutions, deconstruction of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the consolidation of programs focused on community development under a new agency.

The initial stages of this work were generously supported by Incite, whose mission is to build movements by transforming big ideas into big deals.

Project Reports & Resources

Implementing Benefits Eligibility + Enrollment Systems: State Responses to H.R. 1

Throughout summer 2025, our team at the Digital Benefits Network at the Beeck Center for Social Impact + Innovation at Georgetown University conducted interviews with leaders from seven states. These states operate, or are building, integrated eligibility and enrollment (IEE) systems for core public benefit programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and child care.

Oct. 21, 2025