Strategy in Action

Mercy Corps Northwest’s Community Investment Trust (CIT) helps low-income residents and communities of color grow their wealth and lessen the risk of displacement. East Portland CIT is a pilot project of Mercy Corps Northwest, an Oregon nonprofit that provides financial education and loans to low-income residents. Their model offers a long-term path to collective commercial property ownership for low- to moderate-income East Portland residents. Mercy Corps purchased Plaza 122, a single-story commercial building in East Portland whose tenants are largely businesses and organizations owned by immigrants and people of color. Residents who live in specific Portland zip codes and take a six-hour financial literacy course can invest anywhere between $10 to $100 per month in the CIT.