Individual Bios

Lori Scott, Vice President, Community Investment Partners

Lori Scott is Vice President of Calvert Foundation subsidiary Community Investment Partners. The goal of Community Investment Partners (CIP) is to increase community investment, by replicating Calvert Foundation’s successful lending and investment strategies and products. CIP has worked with over 20 leading foundations, corporations and other institutions, and Lori manages a combined portfolio of over $40 million in community development loans and investments. She provides in-depth services related to community development portfolios, from design an implementation of lending programs, strategy and policy development, market research, as well as on-going portfolio management and investor and loan administration.

Lori has been with the Foundation since 1999, starting with the Lending Program. Prior to the Calvert Foundation, she was the Loan Fund Manager at the Illinois Facilities Fund, a statewide communities facilities lender. While at the IFF, Lori evaluated the first round of charter school applications and implemented the charter school loan program. Lori co-authored the "Community Development Primer" for the Social Investment Forum which provides investors with information needed to evaluate community investment opportunities. She has a MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Lori lives in Chicago with her husband and two sons.

Who inspires you?

My grandmother, Millie, who is 96 years old and lives in rural Illinois. Always of very modest circumstances, her life has been rich in relationships, with family, neighbors, and friends. She came of age in the depression and had her first child at the start of World War II. She had 6 boys and one girl and raised them all in a house with one interior door. I have the best memories of playing at her house as a child, though we were doing the simplest things. She would give us a box of tarnished pennies and have us polish them or we would invent games such as throwing rocks at a branch over the creek. Working as a cook in the local school cafeteria (when real food was actually cooked in schools!), she always found ways to help others out and make her community a better place. With a great sense of humor, and a weekly bridge game that has lasted over 70 years, she always has a wonderfully positive outlook on life. She taught me the importance of the most basic things in life, the love of family and friends, and the importance of helping others, in her generosity despite few resources.

What is something you would like to see happen in the next 10 years?

That’s a long list. I’d like to see New Orleans and the Gulf Coast thriving, and functioning better than even before hurricanes Katrina and Rita. We have an incredible opportunity to rebuild in ways that are both greener and more equitable. At my son’s neighborhood public school, and schools throughout the US, I’d like to see fewer cars dropping off/picking up kids and local produce in the cafeteria – just a few small changes that will lead to healthier kids and communities. I’d really like to see our financial system rebuilt using best practices that community development institutions have pioneered over the past decade, resulting in quality financial services widely available and fiscally sound financial institutions. The very positive story of the successes of community development financial institutions has not been heard widely enough in the aftermath of the financial meltdown. We have answers on how lending to homeowners and small businesses can work – in all types of communities.

If you could have dinner with anyone, who would it be and why?

I’d love to have dinner with Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank and a Nobel Prize winner. The impact he has had on enormous numbers of people around the world is astonishing – and he is still at it. I’d love to hear firsthand about the people he has met and how he started the microfinance revolution. The individual stories of how lives are dramatically improved through modest loans are incredibly inspiring to me. Also, I’d like to hear what’s on the horizon in terms of innovations and where his work will take him next. How can I apply some of his magic to what we do and the communities that we strive to change? Not just the practicalities of structuring deals or marketing campaigns, but tapping into the mind of a true visionary and entrepreneur to help broaden our reach and expand our successes.