Chris White currently oversees the Community Wealth Building work of the Georgetown University Law Center’s new Coalition for Racial Equity and Democratic Economy (CREDE).  Founded by Professor Anthony Cook, CREDE’s work is deeply aligned with the values of Catholic Social Teaching and builds on the long traditions of the university and Jesuit orders’ history of promoting the well-being of vulnerable communities by establishing social service, cooperative, and financial institutions. Building on the precedent of the Mondragon Cooperative in the Basque region of Spain—a Jesuit founded community wealth building cooperative—CREDE is focused on addressing health and economic equity in food deserts throughout the Washington, D.C. area by establishing worker and community owned grocery cooperatives. 

Prior to joining CREDE, White provided strategic research and data analysis to support the mission of City First Bank. Since Georgetown University’s founding investment in the bank over 25 years ago, this community development financial institution has made over $1.4B in loans and investments in low-income communities across housing, education, healthcare, the arts, and small business. City First Bank is now the largest, Black-led minority depository institution (MDI) in the nation, with a billion dollar plus balance sheet. Prior to his work in the community development sector, White worked in sub-saharan Africa as a contractor supporting the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security resources in Kenya, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan. He earned his B.A. in liberal Studies from the Georgetown University School of Continuing Studies.