News

Invest Appalachia fund launches with USD 19 million for community-first impact investment

03.02.2023

Invest Appalachia (IA), a regional social investment platform and member of the Mountain Partnership since 2022, has secured USD 19 million of new investment in the Invest Appalachia Fund (IA Fund). This is a significant step in IA's work to catalyze sustainable community investment in the mountains of Central Appalachia, United States of America.

Central Appalachia is home to creative and resilient communities whose people and natural resources have fueled the economic growth of the United States of America for generations. Now, despite chronic underinvestment, persistent poverty and other entrenched barriers to opportunity, the region has created its own momentum toward economic transformation and community revitalization.

Invest Appalachia seeks to build a sustainable, equitable and resilient economic future for communities across Central Appalachia that have borne the brunt of economic disparities for generations. "We need an economy where everyone can see a place for themselves, and Invest Appalachia will help move the region in that direction," said Andrew Crosson, CEO of IA. "IA's investment dollars are important, but I believe the focus on values, ecosystem capacity, and partnerships is the real key to creating a more equitable and resilient future for the region."

Invest Appalachia's model takes a bottom-up, systems-oriented approach to regional community development investment, serving the Appalachian counties of Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. IA specifically targets the sectors of community health (including housing), clean energy, creative place-making (including downtown revitalization), and food and agriculture, as well as other projects that advance the impact goals of equity, justice, inclusivity, climate resilience and sustainability, and community wealth-building and quality jobs.

The lead investors for the IA Fund are UnitedHealth Group, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Appalachian Regional Commission. Other first close investors include Sugarbush Valley Impact Investments, Laughing Gull Foundation, and Cassiopeia Foundation.

Read the full announcement here

Press release by Invest Appalachia

Photo: ©Benjamin Bateson