This event is hosted by ImpactPHL and Impact for Breakfast
This month we will discuss how levering the power of the food sector by integrating capital investments in area food businesses, is a path to grow community health and economic resilience. We will also learn about a burgeoning collective in Camden, New Jersey which is integrating local resources to not support local food businesses, but catalyze broader community and regional resilience. Learn from this program the positive impact that investments in healthy food networks can have within these underserved communities and beyond.
To lead this discussion, we are pleased to welcome Mark Watson, Senior Investment Strategist of the Fair Food Network. The Fair Food Network, a national nonprofit, on a mission to grow community health and wealth through food. In 2013, it launched an impact investing arm, Fair Food Fund, which is using a place-based model to integrate all forms of capital in communities so food entrepreneurs can be engines of a more equitable future. Watson will be joined by James Johnson-Piett, the Principal and CEO of Urbane Development. Urbane Development is a community development venture and certified M/WBE based in New York City and Philadelphia. Fair Food Network and Urbane Development have partnered in the past in healthy food access work. Following a presentation by Mark and James will engage in a wide-ranging discussion and open up for questions and answers from attendees.
Mark Watson serves as Senior Investment Strategist for Fair Food Network. He supports the Fair Food Fund, Fair Food Network’s impact investing arm, which provides catalytic capital and business assistance grounded in Fair Food Network’s national network and program expertise. Mark brings 30 years of experience in finance alongside pioneering leadership in impact investing. He joined the Fair Food Network from Boston Impact Initiative (BII), where he built a national reputation for its innovative work marrying financial rigor with a social impact mission supporting entrepreneurs of color in Eastern Massachusetts. Mark is an advisory board member of MIT/Health Innovation Systems Inc.; board member of Institute of Educational Leadership; board president of Sustainable Cape, Inc.; and a former board member of the Social Venture Network.
James Johnson-Piett is the Principal and CEO of Urbane Development. James Johnson-Piett is responsible for the overall management of operations and strategic vision for Urbane Development, a community development venture based in New York City. His work focuses on strengthening small businesses operating in underserved communities through market intelligence, technical assistance, and access to capital. Under his leadership, Urbane has worked with over 1000 small businesses, attracted or retained over 1.1M SF of commercial/community facility space including 400K SF of national retail, and helped raise over $50M in capital in 20+ communities throughout North America. Urbane also acts as a co-developer of commercial and mixed-use real estate in underserved markets in New York and Detroit.
Who should attend this webinar?
High net worth individuals, family offices, endowment/foundation leadership, investment professionals, pension fund trustees, nonprofit leaders, and anyone interested in broadening their investment horizons.