Our Journey
Community Development Investors (CDI) is a nonprofit initiative of the Economic Opportunity Coalition, Inc., designed to advance community-based Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition (ETA) and Employee Ownership (EO) as powerful tools for inclusive economic growth.
As millions of baby boomer–owned businesses approach retirement, the United States faces a historic ownership transition. CDI is responding to this “Silver Tsunami” by building the infrastructure that connects retiring business owners with qualified entrepreneurs from economically underserved communities, preserving jobs, sustaining local enterprises, and expanding pathways to wealth creation. CDI is dedicated to scaling capital access, transaction support, and ecosystem coordination around community-based business acquisitions. This initiative reflects both growing demand and the urgency of this generational transition.
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While there are many different approaches to building wealth, CDI focuses on the following two high-impact pathways to keep firms rooted locally and growing:
1
Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA) provides a viable succession plan for retiring owners while creating wealth-building pathways for underserved entrepreneurs. Aspiring entrepreneurs, often referred to as “searchers,” leverage their skills and experience to purchase and grow established businesses, gaining immediate access to cash flow, established customer bases, and existing operational systems.
2
Employee Ownership (EO) financing employee ownership of companies through employee stock ownership plans, stock options, stock grants, synthetic equity, worker cooperatives and employee ownership trusts
Through partnerships with investors, lenders, philanthropies, policymakers, and entrepreneurs, CDI is building a national ecosystem that ensures small business transitions strengthen the communities they serve.
