Lucas Turner-Owens

Lucas Turner-Owens is the Fund Manager at the Boston Ujima Project, a community controlled fund making investments in small businesses and real estate within Boston’s working class communities of color. He has a background in consulting and TA. Prior to joining the Ujima Project, Lucas worked as an economic policy analyst for Operation HOPE, a national nonprofit focused on consumer financial education.  In this role, Lucas acted as a senior advisor on government affairs and public policy with a focus on strategies designed to benefit underserved communities. Following this, Lucas worked as a loan officer for Cooperation DC, providing technical assistance and expansion loans from a network of impact investors to grow social enterprises and worker-owned co-operatives in Washington D.C.  Returning to Boston in early 2017, Lucas joined Next Street Financial as a senior analyst in their Boston office. In this role, he applied his background in business development and public policy to support clients making impact investments and strategic growth decisions. Lucas joined the Ujima Project as its Fund Manager in August of 2017. Lucas graduated from Wesleyan University in 2012 with a bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies and a concentration in Sociology.  As a volunteer and organizer Lucas has been involved in local grassroots movements in Boston with groups such as Alternatives for Community and Environment and the Mattapan CDC. Lucas was also a founder of the group Youth Against Mass Incarceration.