Foreword

Author(s): Ian Galloway

Without smart, proactive investments in adaptive capacity and resilience, low- and moderate-income (LMI) communities will likely be disproportionately affected by climate change-related events.1 This issue of the Community Development Innovation Review explores these investment opportunities and calls on the community development sector to take a leadership role in preparing vulnerable regions most at risk for a “new abnormal.”2

This issue would not have been possible without the extraordinary work of its guest editor, Jesse M. Keenan. A leading thinker on climate change risk—even adding the helpful term “climate gentrification” to the lexicon—Jesse recruited a remarkable group of thirty-eight authors to write for this issue. Their contributions, and Jesse’s, advance the community development sector and help us better prepare for a changing world.

Despite the challenges that lie ahead, I’m encouraged by the work that’s already begun. As recently as this summer, in fact, the Low Income Investment Fund—a national Community Development Financial Institution—issued a $100 million “Sustainability Bond,” the first public offering directly aligned with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.3 If that’s any indication, the community development sector has already begun to mobilize capital to address the impacts of climate change in LMI communities.

Enjoy this issue of the Review.

1. See, for example: Anderson, M. and McMinn, S. “As Rising Heat Bakes U.S. Cities, The Poor Often Feel It Most,” All Things Considered, National Public Radio (September 3, 2019)

2. Former California Governor Jerry Brown (November 11, 2018), as cited by Allison Brooks in her article, Drawing a New Roadmap: The Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge.

3. Low Income Investment Fund, “$100 Million in Sustainable Bonds for Social Impact: Announcing LIIF’s First Bond Issuance.”