Building Wealth Infrastructure Without Waiting for Policy
Four community wealth models—crowdfunding, occupant equity, local institutional equity and pooled funds—are already working. You don’t have to wait for policy to build wealth infrastructure.
It’s fashionable to blame inequality on “the system.”
And yes — structural inequities are real and deep.
But while we push for better policy, we can’t ignore the power we already have to build wealth infrastructure from the ground up.
Infrastructure isn’t just bridges and roads.
It’s the networks of ownership, finance, and support that allow people and communities to accumulate assets.
And the truth is, we don’t need to wait for Congress to get started.
The New Wealth Infrastructure
Across the country, new models are expanding asset ownership and democratizing access to capital.
The Urban Institute notes that while inequities in access to finance still block progress — especially for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities — there’s also a growing wave of community-led mechanisms that enable people to invest in and benefit from the places they live.
Here are four powerful examples:
Neighborhood Crowdfunding: Community members buy small ownership stakes in local businesses or real estate — turning neighbors into investors.
Occupant Equity: Residents pool resources or combine philanthropic and public funds to purchase properties, taking them off speculative markets and securing long-term affordability.
Local Institutional Equity: Nonprofits and local institutions acquire partial ownership in community real estate, creating new revenue streams to support their missions.
Pooled Investment Vehicles: Professionally managed local funds that allow smaller investors to collectively participate in larger-scale projects.
These models share one defining trait: they don’t wait for permission.
They leverage existing capital, local trust, and collective will to build ownership structures that anchor wealth where it belongs — in communities.
From Individuals to Institutions
Wealth infrastructure is about more than personal savings or retirement accounts.
It’s about institutional capacity — from community development credit unions to cooperative land trusts — that can sustain prosperity for generations.
The barriers are real: regulatory hurdles, limited awareness, institutional inertia.
But they’re not insurmountable.
Communities are already proving what’s possible:
In East Portland, a Community Investment Trust allows residents to buy shares in a local shopping center for as little as $10 a month.
Cooperative housing developments in Minneapolis and Miami are securing permanent affordability for residents.
The point isn’t to reinvent the wheel — it’s to replicate and scale what already works.
Call to Action
You don’t have to wait for policy to change.
Start where you are.
Invest in community trusts or local crowdfunding projects.
Support nonprofits experimenting with occupant equity.
Join The Wealth Salons to connect with others building the wealth infrastructure our communities need — now, not later.
Join the conversation. Share this post with someone who needs to hear it, and connect with The Wealth Salons to learn how you can help build wealth in The Great 38. Let’s co-create a future where every community has the tools to thrive.
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