New Impact Offerings, Empowering Communities Through Real Estate Crowdfunding, Superpowers for Good Live Pitch, and Vacant Lots into Blossoming Opportunities
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El Centro Home Featured Among New Impact Offerings – June 24, 2024
Each week, Superpowers for Good shares a list of new impact-related offerings added to FINRA-Registered crowdfunding portals and by broker-dealers. We’ll share four separate lists:
Impact offerings
Offerings with minority founders.
Deals with women founders.
Those with LGBTQ founders.
Empowering Communities Through Real Estate Crowdfunding: A Conversation with Vontenea Stokes
tl;dr:
1. Introduction to Secure Living: Tina Stokes is the CEO and founder of Secure Living, a regulated crowdfunding portal focused on Real Estate investments. She transitioned from being an investor to creating a platform to involve more people, particularly family and friends, in her successful real estate ventures.
2. Regulatory Challenges: Getting Secure Living regulated by the SEC and Finra was challenging, involving stringent compliance and audits. Despite the difficulties, Tina emphasizes the importance of trust and diligence due to the financial nature of the business.
3. Diverse Investment Opportunities: Secure Living offers a variety of real estate investment opportunities, from single-family rentals to mixed-use spaces and even a manufacturing facility and hospital. This diversity aims to empower investors to choose investments suited to their interests and to encourage a broad range of participants by lowering the entry barrier to as little as $250.
4. Impact of Diversity: Tina notes that crowdfunding can be particularly beneficial for diverse founders, including women and minorities, who often face barriers in traditional venture capital. She champions deliberate investment in diverse teams, which data suggests outperform monocultural teams due to varied perspectives and experiences.
5. Personal Superpower: Faith: Tina credits her faith and relationship with Jesus Christ as her superpower, providing strength and guidance through challenging situations, including living abroad in Germany. She encourages daily practices such as prayer, reading the Bible, and surrounding oneself with supportive individuals to cultivate a strong relationship with faith.
Watch the Superpowers for Good Live Pitch Today
This evening at 9:00 PM Eastern during prime time, we’ll be streaming live to e360tv and across social media. To enjoy the event on the living room sofa, be sure to download the e360tv streaming channel app to your Roku, AmazonFireTV or AppleTV device.
We’ve got four great companies that have been competitively chosen to pitch live on the show. You’ll hear polished presentations from serious entrepreneurs who are changing the world—for good!
Read the short profiles below to prep for the big event.
Transforming Vacant Lots into Blossoming Opportunities
tl;dr:
1. Background and Mission: Quilen and Hannah Blackwell are co-founders of Southside Blooms, a nonprofit in Chicago that transforms vacant lots into off-grid, solar-powered flower farms to employ local youth. The initiative aims to provide job opportunities and skills development within the floral industry.
2. Personal Stories: Quilen, originally from Madison, started the project in 2011 after moving to Chicago for ministry school and encountering inner-city poverty firsthand. Hannah moved to Chicago in 2005, driven by an impactful youth trip at age 15, and later aligned with Quilen’s mission to address poverty and joblessness in the community.
3. Operations and Impact: Southside Blooms operates both farm and flower shop teams. The farm team cultivates flowers in various vacant lots, utilizing sustainable methods like rainwater irrigation and composting. The flower shop team includes youth who learn floral design at different levels, from basic bouquets to wedding arrangements. This holistic approach nurtures creativity, confidence, and environmental stewardship among the youth.
4. Sustainability Efforts: The organization is committed to sustainability, using chemical-free farming techniques and compostable materials. They aim to reclaim urban blight areas and transform them into ecologically sustainable spaces, actively involving youth in every aspect of the operations, thus connecting them to the larger sustainability movement.
5. Superpower Philosophy: Quilen and Hannah attribute their drive and success to profound values—Quilen cites love as his superpower, particularly his enduring love for the community and commitment to the cause. Hannah identifies faith as her superpower, maintaining an unwavering belief in their mission despite challenges. Their deep personal convictions have helped them persevere and inspire change within their community.
Upcoming SuperCrowd Event Calendar
If a location is not noted, the events below are virtual.
SuperCrowdChicago, June 12, 2024. This in-person event at Columbia College Chicago features some of Chicago’s prominent citizens and community leaders, along with crowdfunding experts. Use the discount code “SuperCrowd” to save 50 percent! Watch the recording here!
SuperCrowdHour, July 17, 2024, at 1:00 Eastern. Each month, we host a value-laden webinar for aspiring impact investors or social entrepreneurs. At this month’s webinar, Pooja Mehta, crowdfund investor and advisor to entrepreneurs, will join us to share her dual perspectives.
Impact Cherub Club Meeting hosted by The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, on July 16, 2024, at 1:00 PM Eastern. Each month, the Club meets to review new offerings for investment consideration and to conduct due diligence on previously screened deals. To join the Impact Cherub Club, you must first become an Impact Member of the SuperCrowd.
Recently, we created an AI GPT to help you learn more about The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation, and our upcoming events. Click here to try it.
SuperCrowd Community Event Calendar
Successful Funding with Karl Dakin, Tuesdays at 10:00 AM ET – Click on Events
The Reg A & Crowdfunding Conference, June 20, Westchester Country Club (Save 20% with the code Super20)
How Small Businesses Can Raise Capital from the Crowd, Thursday, July 11, 1 – 2 pm ET: Explore transforming your community connections into capital to start or grow a small business through regulated investment crowdfunding. Learn more about how this type of crowdfunding works and the benefits and challenges of raising capital from the crowd. About our Presenter: Author and journalist Devin Thorpe has over 25 years in Finance and a rich background as a former CFO and investment banking firm founder. He’s also a champion for social good, publishing his Superpowers for Good newsletter and show.
Crowdfunding Professional Association, Summit in DC, October 22-23
Asheville Neighborhood Economics, November 12-13.
If you would like to submit an event for us to share with the 7,000+ members of the SuperCrowd, click here.
Originally Published on https://www.superpowers4good.com/
