Strategic Goals

At BCC we have always known that to be effective we must evolve to respond to the changing needs of our constituents and the changing world in which we live. Specifically, we consider the ways in which powerful regional, national and global trends intersect with community development strategies that are intended to create meaningful and wide-scale economic and social opportunities for low-income people. Our answers and observations help shape our goals, our vision and our five-year strategy.

In Fall 2006, BCC released A Platform for Transformation, a strategic plan outlining our vision for change. The plan laid out five top-level goals to guide our work over the next five years.

Bring new capital to underserved communities

Create partnerships and tools which increase access to cost-effective, market-rate commercial capital, including lines of credit from mainstream financial institutions and investments from public sector pension funds, insurance companies and socially responsible mutual funds.

Expand our leadership role in the discourse on healthy communities

Participate in civic and national leadership roles that build and strengthen alliances between peers and organizations that share our interest in creating healthy communities, including organized labor, public health practitioners, the arts and cultural community, the philanthropic community, supporters of a cleaner environment, and the public education system. Through these alliances, create programs and policies that will strengthen the communities we serve.

Expand our core programs to meet the changing needs of underserved markets

Invest where other financial institutions and create financing initiatives that bridge gaps between key players in the areas that affect healthy communities, reducing the silos in which these players often operate.

Build a platform that both enables BCC to achieve our objectives and can be replicated at a national level

Maintain organizational self-sufficiency and sustainability through both fee income and growth in volume and size of our activity. Invest in staff and infrastructure to optimize efficiency and productivity.

Develop an effective measurement matrix for the social and community impact of CDFIs

Measure what CDFIs do, capturing all the value that CDFIs create on five levels, with each level correlating to the following: financial system, CDFI, borrower and project, community, and individual and family.