Connecting Work and Wealth

The Foun­da­tion focus­es its invest­ments on those who con­tend with the biggest obsta­cles to not only improve their lives, but also to low­er costs down the road for com­mu­ni­ties and pub­lic sys­tems. Our work, there­fore, empha­sizes chil­dren, youth and fam­i­lies of col­or as well as those who who have low incomes, live in high-pover­ty com­mu­ni­ties and are involved in child wel­fare and juve­nile jus­tice systems.

Impact Invest­ments col­lab­o­rates with three units with­in the Foun­da­tion — Cen­ter for Eco­nom­ic Oppor­tu­ni­ty, Civic Sites and Com­mu­ni­ty Change — to advance mar­ket-based strate­gies that ensure young peo­ple can meet their basic needs, have access to eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty and achieve finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty. In gen­er­al, these invest­ments have a range of impact objec­tives, including:

• jobs that offer fam­i­ly sup­port­ing wages and benefits;
• busi­ness own­er­ship as a path­way to asset build­ing; and
• strate­gies that reduce bar­ri­ers to employ­ment and cre­ate career pathways.

Qual­i­ty Jobs

Employ­ment is a crit­i­cal ele­ment for fam­i­lies to gen­er­ate the income nec­es­sary to obtain basic ser­vices, food, hous­ing and health care. Jobs that pay a fam­i­ly-sup­port­ing wage, offer ben­e­fits —e.g., retire­ment accounts and health care — and a career path­way bol­ster work­ers and companies.

Evi­dence sug­gests work­ers with sta­ble jobs are more pro­duc­tive, pro­vide bet­ter ser­vices and are more like­ly to stay with a com­pa­ny. And replac­ing an indi­vid­ual employ­ee can cost a com­pa­ny half to two times the employ­ees’ annu­al salary; com­pa­nies at the lead­ing edge of the work­force tend to out­per­form their finan­cial bench­marks. The Impact Invest­ments team invests in impact funds that back com­pa­nies that fos­ter the well-being of chil­dren and fam­i­lies by pro­vid­ing liv­ing wages, ben­e­fits, train­ing and advance­ment opportunities.

Wealth Build­ing

Wealth and income are inter­con­nect­ed mea­sures of a house­hold’s finan­cial health. Jobs that con­tribute to a fam­i­ly’s finan­cial sta­bil­i­ty through liv­ing wages, ben­e­fits and career path­ways fos­ter eco­nom­ic oppor­tu­ni­ty. At the same time, strate­gies that con­tribute to clos­ing the racial wealth gap are crit­i­cal. To com­bat per­sis­tent wealth dis­par­i­ties, the team invests in approach­es that facil­i­tate access to cap­i­tal and tech­ni­cal assis­tance to entre­pre­neurs — espe­cial­ly those of col­or — to help their busi­ness­es and sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties thrive.

Inno­va­tion

The Impact Invest­ments team will look to invest in pio­neer­ing strate­gies — part­ner or Foun­da­tion-dri­ven — that are aligned with Casey’s pri­or­i­ties, such as:

• pro­mot­ing eco­nom­ic opportunity;
• reduc­ing racial wealth gaps; and
• elim­i­nat­ing bar­ri­ers to employment.