Strategy in Action

The Ujima Fund is a democratic investment fund that raises capital to finance small businesses, real estate, and infrastructure projects in Boston’s working-class BIPOC communities. It works in five underserved market segments with high social impact opportunities: microfinance, working capital, growth capital, real estate, and community infrastructure. Employing a participatory, multi-stakeholder model, the fund targets three neighborhoods where entrepreneurs struggle to access capital. The fund has invested more than $5 million in microloans, working capital, and growth capital in Black-owned small businesses, including the Dorchester Food Cooperative and Boston Ujima Project’s Arts and Cultural Organizing Fellowship for emerging artists and cultural organizers.