Author Archive

Opinion: Equitable revitalization critical to Detroit’s future

2021

In this opinion piece, CEO Ellis Carr talks about how Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance have come together to focus on building equitable communities for all Detroiters.

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Capital Impact Partners Awarded $55 Million in New Markets Tax Credits to Attract Private Capital and Advance Social Impact Efforts

This award will spur projects that increase access to social services in disinvested communities.

OCTOBER 28, 2022 (Arlington, VA) – Capital Impact Partners has been awarded a $55 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). These tax credits incentivize private sector investors to partner in community financing efforts.

“This award will help advance our mission to increase access to critical social services in disinvested communities, spur economic development and wealth creation, and create jobs,” said Raymond Guthrie, chief investment officer and head of capital deployment for Capital Impact Partners. “We are grateful that the CDFI Fund has again recognized our proven track record of working with communities to uplift their needs and solutions, and working alongside the private investors who help make that possible. It further enhances our ability to provide a continuum of financial, knowledge, and social capital.”

2022 Obran Coop Impact Investment Story

Growing Cooperatives And Health Equity through Impact Investments

Obran is utilizing the cooperative model to not only create a more effective health care system, but also create equity and power for the workers themselves. Facing the need to expand and reach the next level of its operations, Obran turned to Momentus Capital. Momentus Capital’s impact investment team worked with Obran to create a preferred equity investment vehicle to support their vision.

Read more about Obran’s transformative approach and our impact investment model to support them

Entrepreneurs of Color Fund Story

When Access Equals Opportunity, Entrepreneurs and Communities Thrive

Naimah and Charlayne were living their dream of creating their own businesses. However, those dreams hit a significant roadblock when they could not get loans from traditional financial institutions in order to expand. The Entrepreneurs of Color Fund opened up pathways for them and other business owners of color to create the wealth and health they have wanted for themselves and their communities.

Read along to see how EOCF helped Naimah and Charlayne’s businesses to flourish

2022 Rolison Apartments Affordable Housing Story

Affordable Housing Preservation Project Comes to Fruition with Mission-Centric Capital

When a new apartment complex came up for sale in a rapidly gentrifying suburb of San Francisco, Kate Comfort Harr of HIP Housing knew she had to preserve it as an affordable housing option. Read more about the partnership with Capital Impact to make her vision a reality.

Follow Kate’s saga to save Rolison from market-rate developers

Impact Investing for Health Equity: Q&A With SameSky Health CEO Abner Mason

SameSky Health Founder and CEO Abner Mason is on a mission to advance health equity in communities

Abner Mason came up with the idea for SameSky Health in 2013 with a dream of creating a company that is on a mission to advance health equity. From its inception, SameSky Health has been focused on engaging and helping Americans who are marginalized or under-resourced.

15 Developers of Color Welcomed into New Accelerator Program

Program is sponsored by a grant from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund and will support real estate developers of color focused on bringing more affordable housing to the Washington metropolitan region.

April 28, 2022 (Arlington, VA) – Today, Capital Impact Partners announced the inaugural class of its Housing Equity Accelerator Fellowship. The group consists of 15 of the region’s emerging real estate developers of color.

The goals of this new program, funded by a grant of more than $5 million from the Amazon Housing Equity Fund, include increasing the number of real estate developers of color in an industry where they are under-represented, and helping to grow the affordable housing stock in this region.

Empowering Black-Owned Businesses: “Activate Detroit” Brings New, Credit-Blind Approach

 Character-based evaluations, rather than credit scores, are key for Activate Detroit, a new loan product from mission-driven lenders CDC Small Business Finance and Capital Impact Partners.

ARLINGTON, VA. (April 25, 2022) – Credit scores don’t tell the whole story of small business entrepreneurs. Activate Detroit – a new loan product meant to empower Black entrepreneurs – is changing the way their story is told.

CDC Small Business Finance  and Capital Impact Partners are proud to announce the launch of Activate Detroit, which provides access to affordable financing through character-based lending practices. 

Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance Applaud Greater Washington Partnership and Biden-Harris Administration for Massive Commitment to Small Businesses and Communities of Color

Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance President and CEO Ellis Carr joined Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States of America, for Announcement at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

March 30, 2022 (Arlington, VA) – Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance are proud to stand alongside the Greater Washington Partnership and the Biden-Harris Administration for two announcements made Wednesday that will aid small businesses and communities of color.

The Greater Washington Partnership announced that it plans to direct $4.7 billion over the next five years toward supporting underrepresented communities and Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) in the Washington, D.C. metro region.

Capital Impact Partners Teams Up with Amazon to Support Developers of Color and Advance Affordable Housing Efforts

Amazon commits more than $5 million to new program to grow opportunities for real estate developers of color in Arlington, Virginia and the broader Washington, D.C. Metropolitan region

Arlington, VA (December 8, 2021)Capital Impact Partners today announced a grant of more than $5 million from Amazon to launch an initiative focused on accelerating new opportunities for emerging real estate developers of color while also increasing affordable and workforce housing across Arlington, Virginia and the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan region. This funding is the most recent commitment from the more than $2 billion Amazon Housing Equity Fund, which was established to preserve and create over 20,000 affordable homes in Amazon’s hometown communities–the Puget Sound region of Washington state, the Arlington, Virginia region, and Nashville, Tennessee.