In her fellowship, Laura Kohn is working to  build Mission Driven Finance’s community REIT (cREIT). The cREIT will invest in a portfolio of residential and commercial child care properties, with profit sharing and cooperative features embedded to help providers build wealth, business stability, and community. Every project will expand the availability of quality child care, focusing on underserved communities and families. Launching in four geographies, the national cREIT’s equity and debt will be deployed through locally-managed structures that share profits and property appreciation with providers,  and will work closely with local child care ecosystem partners and government entities. Properties will be leased to providers at affordable rates, creating steady dividends for cREIT investors, and the evergreen fund will recycle capital and help providers build wealth by helping them purchase their facilities/homes in whole or in part. 

Laura Kohn is a 25-year leader in the field of education, early childhood, and workforce development.

Prior roles include director of early workforce development at San Diego Workforce Partnership where she produced the influential report Workforce + Child Care; founding director of the Education Synergy Alliance; executive director of the New School Foundation in Seattle; director of education for the city of Seattle; advocacy lead for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; and education policy advisor to Washington’s governor.

Laura has a BA in Economics from Yale University and an MPA from the University of Washington. Her current volunteer roles include vice chair of the board of directors for Words Alive, the advisory board for Funding the Next Generation, and the advisory board for the Ascend Postsecondary Success for Parents initiative at the Aspen Institute. Laura is an avid baker, hiker, and skier, and watches in wonder as her college-age children make their way in the wider world.

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