Public Appearances

Watch plenary moderator Anna Alvarez Boyd, who serves as the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System’s senior associate director for research, analytics and engagement, pose questions to panelists Lisa Mensah, OFN president and CEO, and Melissa Jones, executive director of Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative (BARHII), a network of public health departments and others.

Lisa Mensah joined a discussion with the National Press Foundation highlighting the Biden Administration contributing $1.25 Billion into rural lending and how community development financial institution experts say CDFIs can help alleviate rural poverty as well as racial inequities where previous pandemic relief failed.

Lisa Mensah joined the Urban Institute for a virtual event exploring data and research on why homeownership is so much more affordable than renting and a robust discussion of what can be done to increase access to homeownership. The discussion focused on not only what the federal government can do, but what states, local governments, and organizations such as community development financial institutions can do now by tapping into available resources.

Watch Lisa Mensah, Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.), and other prominent business leaders explore the future of diversity in small business, the challenges minority-owned businesses often face in raising capital and how government and the private sector can work to keep these critically important enterprises thriving.

Lisa Mensah joins host Monique Aiken to reflect on Juneteenth, community lending, and today’s opportunity for a just reconstruction. Log in or register for a free/paid subscription account to listen to the podcast episode.

Lisa Mensah, President and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network, joined Vice President Kamala Harris, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Chairwoman Maxine Waters, and Senator Mark Warner in announcing a federal award of $1.25 billion to more than 800 community lenders in an effort to speed the economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

Lisa Mensah — president and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network — was invited to speak during the U.S. Senate Committee on Small Business & Entrepreneurship’s hearing, “The Paycheck Protection Program: Performance, Impact, and Next Steps.”

Lisa Mensah, president and CEO of Opportunity Finance Network, discusses economic and community development finance institutions (CDFIs), finance justice, and ways the Biden-Harris Administration can support CDFIs to “finance hope” and help struggling communities build back stronger.

In this webinar, Shena Ashley of Urban Institute, Melanie Audette of Mission Investors Exchange, Lisa Mensah of Opportunity Finance Network, and Fran Seegull of The U.S. Impact Investing Alliance will reveal public policy recommendations that can best leverage private capital for public good, and the roles foundations can take to advance these policies for a just and equitable recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.