010 Lisa Mensah| commitment to purpose

LISA'S BIO

Born and raised in Oregon, Lisa Mensah joined Oregon Community Foundation in September 2022, following an illustrious career that has taken her from working on rural poverty with the Ford Foundation to serving as an Under Secretary for Rural Development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, managing a $215 billion loan portfolio, to most recently leading Opportunity Finance Network, the largest network of Treasury licensed Community Development Financial Institutions. 

She serves on the Boards of Ecotrust, Feeding America, Fidelity Bank of Ghana, and Heritage and the Cultural Society of Africa (USA). She also serves as a member of the Advisory Committees of Goldman Sachs One Million Black Women and the Gaia Impact Fund.Lisa is widely considered an expert on access to capital in low-wealth communities and has frequently testified before Congress on the subject. The media and others look to her as a voice of authority on the CDFI industry, finance’s role in social, economic, and racial justice, and the need for more equitable capital access across the country. Forbes recognized Ms. Mensah as one of five women who safeguarded America’s small businesses throughout the pandemic.

She holds an M.A. from Johns Hopkins University and B.A. from Harvard University. 

“Bridging communities of wealth with communities of poverty, understanding of the coping economy”

EPISODE OUTLINE

(00:00) - Intro

(00:38) - Bio

(01:38) - The early days; Ghana, Oregon

(02:19) - The power of purpose; bridging wealth and poverty

(04:39) - Unsticking resources; power, inertia, and the "coping economy"

(08:13) - Essential workers; lenses and x-rays into societal gaps

(10:01) - Oregon Community Foundation; what it does with $3 billion

(11:18) - Common ground v partisanship; some things transcend 

(12:10) - Deserted island castaway; what's on the playlist on repeat

(13:13) - Outro

LISA RELATED LINKS

Oregon Community Foundation

Bringing Philanthropy Home

Feeding America

Fireside Chat: Lisa Mensah and NextDoor’s Sarah Fryar

This episode was edited by Phil Lepanto.

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