The Collective Featured in Philadelphia Inquirer

In photo: Developer Lorraine Wilson-Drake poses for a portrait at the site of one of her developments on April 21, 2021, in Philadelphia.

by Jacob Adelman, Published Apr 22, 2021

Read the full article here.

“A consortium of Black Philadelphia developers is teaming up with a Wall Street emerging-markets veteran to raise investment dollars for real estate projects. It’s a strategy meant to address the yawning wealth and opportunity gap among the city’s developers.

The Collective, as the group is known, has hired former Merrill Lynch executive John Morris’ 17 Asset Management to help raise capital from institutional funds and wealthy private investors seeking to make a positive social impact alongside market-meeting — if not market-beating — financial returns.

The Black Real Estate Impact Fund is to be formally announced at an online event on real estate as an engine for social change on Thursday. The Collective and Morris are seeking to attract $100 million for its initial funding round.

The collaboration is a response to the challenges faced by Black developers in raising the capital needed to accelerate the growth of their businesses, which has left them and other marginalized groups underrepresented in the industry’s leadership.”