About Open AccessThe industry finances these neighborhoods.
The industry finances these neighborhoods.
It should also reflect them.
Community development finance directs billions toward low- and moderate-income communities across America. The professionals structuring those deals rarely come from them. Open Access exists to change that, one cohort at a time.
Program history
It started with two practitioners and one uncomfortable observation.
The Open Access Fellowship launched in the fall of 2021, created by advocates inside the New Markets Tax Credit industry who kept noticing the same thing: the work concentrates on low-income communities across America, while diverse professionals remain sharply underrepresented at every level of the firms doing it. Organizations working in these communities can end up without the cultural lens to serve them well.
Founded fall 2021
Gina Nisbeth
Co-founder and co-chair of the board, founder of 9th & Clinton, formerly of Citi
Read the full bioHow it has grown
From a single cohort to a national pipeline.
- 2021
The first cohort
Launched as an initiative of practitioners in the New Markets Tax Credit industry, with fellows placed directly inside community development firms.
- 2022
The model holds
A second cohort confirms the format: Novogradac coursework, 160 paid hours with a host company, and mentorship that continues past graduation.
- 2023
Seventy-one graduates
By the third year, 71 professionals had completed the program and 76 percent were placed or promoted into community development finance roles.
- 2024
National sponsorship
Wells Fargo joins as leading fiscal sponsor at the trailblazer level, alongside a roster of banks, CDFIs, syndicators, and accounting firms.
- 2026
138 fellows and counting
The sixth cohort of 18 fellows brings the total trained since 2021 to 138, hosted by 18 organizations across the country.
Our objective
Representation at every level, not just the entry level.
The goal is to lead by example inside an industry devoted to improving the lives of under-resourced communities, and to build a replicable model other sectors of community development can follow.
Accounting
Audit, tax credit compliance, and fund accounting.
Legal
Deal documentation, structuring, and closings.
Finance
Underwriting, lending, and capital markets.
Consultancy
Advisory work for funds, sponsors, and nonprofits.
Development
Project sponsorship and real estate development.
Our premise
An industry that concentrates its work in low-income communities cannot keep excluding the professionals who come from them.
Our industry focus
Community development finance
The field we recruit for
A broad term for the varied sources of funding that build stronger, more resilient communities. Lending institutions expand new and established sources of capital for low- and moderate-income communities by working with financial institutions, community development organizations, nonprofits, foundations, research and policy centers, and government agencies.
Financing those investments usually takes a creative mix of public, private, and philanthropic resources, which is exactly the skill set the fellowship teaches. Fellows spend a three-month immersion inside a host company, learning from practitioners and working alongside the teams closing real deals.
3
Months of immersion inside a host company
5
Disciplines the fellowship recruits across
76%
Placed or promoted after the program
Go deeper
The people behind the program.
Our board
Practitioners from banking, syndication, law, and accounting who govern the program.
Meet the board
Our team
The staff running recruitment, curriculum, host matching, and placement support.
Meet the team
Our fellows
Every cohort since 2021, and where each class landed after the program.
Browse the cohortsLead by example in your industry.
Host a fellow, sponsor a cohort, or tell us where your team needs talent. We will take it from there.