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Pathways to Capital

10,000 Communities

Featured 
News Release

10,000 Communities Initiative Expands Community Infrastructure Center with New Partnerships

The Milken Institute, a global think tank focused on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, today announced new...
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Featured 
News Release

10,000 Communities Initiative Expands Community Infrastructure Center with New Partnerships

The Milken Institute, a global think tank focused on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health, today announced new...
Read News Release

Many communities face barriers to funding the critical infrastructure needed for long-term growth. The 10,000 Communities Initiative works with public and private partners nationwide to connect people, projects, and capital in support of equitable investment in lasting community resilience.

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public and private partners activated across a nationwide network
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capital opportunities, tools, and resources indexed to support community projects
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10,000 Communities

Our Work

We work in partnership with other private and public organizations around the U.S. to ensure to connect people, projects and partners to facilitate the effective and equitable distribution of resources to traditionally underfunded communities and support long-term community resilience.

Better Bonds and Best Practices

Muni bonds fund 2/3 of all U.S. built infrastructure. Our better bonds team works to address the challenges of 50,000+ diverse muni market issuers, inspire outcomes-based thinking, promote equitable uses of bond proceeds, and incentivize critical best practices such as better asset management and procurement to scale up the impact of public financing.

Community Infrastructure Center

The Community Infrastructure Center (CIC) is a platform designed to scale equitable capital deployment and accelerate community-led infrastructure projects in historically underserved communities. CIC provides free technical assistance to community project sponsors, tools to advance projects, and connections to a broad range of funding sources, including impact and institutional investors, philanthropy, public funding programs, and project development expertise.

Regional Partnerships

Cross-sectoral collaboration is key to build bottom-up innovation economic results between businesses, communities, and federal, state, and local governments. We work with partners to create regional strategies and events to effectively link together investors, technical assistance experts, and community leaders to build local and national resilience and long-term competitiveness.

10,000 Communities Initiatives

The LA Disaster Recovery initiative supports community-led rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of disasters by aligning philanthropy, private capital, and public resources. Through research, convenings, and project development tools, the program helpsinitiative strengthens long-term resilience, improves insurability, and accelerates investment in recovery and reconstruction projects across Los Angeles.

Deal Rooms bring together community project sponsors, capital providers, and technical partners to advance community infrastructure projects toward financing. Through structured, project-focused sessions, Deal Rooms help clarify project needs, improve readiness, and strengthen alignment between projects and available capital, supporting more rapid deployment of investment to communities. 

The CFO Forum is a semiannual convening that brings together municipal chief financial officers from across the country for peer learning and exchange. Hosted by local CFOs in rotating cities, the Forum creates space for candid discussion on city finance, budgeting, and fiscal challenges, enabling participants to share practical approaches, lessons learned, and strategies for advancing public-sector financial management.

The Secondary Markets initiative explores pathways to recycle and scale capital for community infrastructure by improving liquidity, risk sharing, and the long-term sustainability of mission-driven investments. Through research, partnerships, and pilot efforts, the initiative advances frameworks that support capital aggregation, portfolio performance, and reinvestment in new community-led infrastructure projects.

10,000 Communities
Highlights

Event Panels

ImpactAlpha's Take on 10,000 Communities

"Together, these partnerships are designed to reduce project development costs and drive capital to under-resourced communities by linking investors, technical assistance experts, and community leaders through generative AI, online grant-matching and other innovative financing techniques,” says Milken Institute’s Rachel Halfaker. “We know we can’t solve these challenges alone."

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10,000 Communities

Our Team

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Dan Carol

Managing Director, Milken Institute Finance
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Rachel Halfaker

Director, 10,000 Communities Initiative, Milken Institute Finance
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Alexander Meeks

Director, 10,000 Communities Initiative, Milken Institute Finance
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Sarah Ortner

Associate Director, Public Finance, Milken Institute Finance
10,000 Communities

Leaders

Advisory Council

This Advisory Council plays a pivotal role in our work, bringing together a distinguished group of executive-level and cross-sectoral leaders who offer strategic guidance and direction for our program's development. These experts provide...
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To learn more, email us at [email protected].

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