Check out this video about Reinvestment Fund's work to finance the fit out and equipping of a new 15,000 square foot Save-A-Lot grocery store in Winfield, KS. A veteran-owned and operated business, the store is located in a USDA food desert where the previous grocery store closed in 2013. The store will create 30 jobs and serve residents of a low-income community (23% poverty rate).

Honor Capital, a veteran-owned business with a dual mission to employ returning veterans and to alleviate food desert communities, will operate the Save-A-Lot. The store will be managed by Matt Eisenbach, a Naval Academy graduate who served 6 years of active duty. The store will seek to hire local veterans to fill the new jobs it is creating.

The Save-A-Lot will offer a full array of fresh produce and fresh cut meat in addition to typical grocery departments (dry goods, dairy and frozen). Located in a USDA food desert, the store is on the northeast side of Winfield, more than two miles from the only other food retailers in the city, a Super Walmart and a Dillions located adjacent to each other. No other stores are located within 10 miles.

Honor Capital Save-A-Lot (full profile: reinvestment.com/success-story/honor-capital-save-a-lot/)

Like other cities in Southern California, Long Beach became a majority people-of-color city decades ago, ahead of the national trend, and the pace of change is now slowing. Today, seven in 10 Long Beach residents are people of color, yet persistent inequities by race, gender, and geography threaten the city’s economic vitality. Embracing diversity as an asset and advancing equity is the city’s path to a prosperous future. This profile is designed to be a resource for all seeking to enhance prosperity for everyone in Long Beach, including advocacy groups, government agencies, elected officials, funders, business and civic leaders, and more. The summary report that accompanies this profile highlights leading indicators and offers policy recommendations. PolicyLink and the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at the University of Southern California are grateful to Citi Community Development for their generous support of this project. Read the profile, summary, and fact sheet (English, Spanish, Tagalog, Khmer), and see the press release.

Media: Lessons From California’s Diverse Cities (US News & World Report)

Winter 2014 edition of the National Civic Review features Judith Bell and Larry Cohen discussing the Convergence Partnership’s approach to place-based environmental and policy change, using the power of collaboration to create a “field of fields.”

While Louisiana’s economy has improved in recent years, people of color are still disproportionately represented among the state’s economically insecure. Men of color face particular barriers to employment due to discrimination and gaps in work-based skills. If full employment was achieved across all gender and racial groups, Louisiana's economy could be $3.5 billion stronger each year. Investing in men of color and critical education and training systems for Louisiana’s workforce will shift the state toward a course for greater prosperity for all. This brief is the fifth and final in a series about employment equity in the South (following analyses produced for Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and North Carolina) based on data analysis and modeling of a “full-employment economy” (defined as when everyone who wants a job can find one), which was conducted by the Program for Environmental and Regional Equity (PERE) at the University of Southern California as well as policy research and focus groups conducted by PolicyLink and the Louisiana Power Coalition for Equity and Justice, with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Download the report, detailed methodology, and fact sheet.