Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance – the nation’s leading mission-based small business lender – are excited to announce a new alliance that will allow the organizations to create change that neither could accomplish independently.  The focus will be on developing and implementing scalable solutions that support economic empowerment and equitable wealth creation. 

Three Pilot Programs

Initially, the focus will be on three key place-based pilot locations – Los Angeles, Detroit, and the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan (DMV) Area.

The immediate work will be on supporting recovery and relief needs of community members, small businesses, and organizations delivering key social services that have been devastated by these uncertain times. Cross-organizational teams will actively engage with local community members to understand regional problems and share tools and services to address those issues.

With lessons learned from the pilots, community-based efforts will be replicated and expanded in other parts of the country.

Strong Funding Partners

We are proud to have been awarded multi-million dollar investments from JPMorgan Chase and the Heron Foundation as we launch this effort. Their backing underscores the scale and impact the organizations are poised to make.

The Power of Collaboration

We are honored to work alongside CDC Small Business Finance in this effort to bring transformative change to communities and to increase our impact.

Join Us!

For more information about our alliance, read our press release or reach out to us at alliance@capitalimpact.org. 

From a global pandemic to racial injustices across the country, this is a moment for communities and organizations to continue working together to expand opportunity for our neighbors. As a mission-driven organization focused on building equity and power for our communities, it is times like these that reaffirm our resolve and commitment to stand against racism in all its forms and work with neighbors to create a reality in which everyone can thrive.

We would like to share with you some of the programs we have been working on across Detroit.

Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance – the nation’s leading mission-based small business lender – are excited to announce a new alliance that will focus on developing and implementing high-touch, scalable solutions that support economic empowerment and equitable wealth creation. Detroit will serve as one of the three place-based pilot locations where cross-organizational teams will actively engage with community members to understand regional barriers to opportunity and work together to create tools, programs, and services that are strategically customized to address those high-priority issues.

► Read our full press release for details

Particularly in moments like this, the vital nature of partnerships becomes clear. Working together, we can bridge the gaps that community members experience in order to foster inclusive, sustainable, and equitable futures.

That connectedness is certainly true of our partners in Detroit. Our Detroit Partnerships video series has been a great way for us to acknowledge the partnerships that have made our work possible. Here, you can see the final videos in the series, featuring The Kresge Foundation’s Managing Director of the Social Investment Practice Aaron Seybert; JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Vice President & Detroit Program Officer September Hargrove; and New Paradigm for Education’s CEO Ralph Bland.

►Watch the entire Detroit Partnerships series including the City of Detroit’s Donald Rencher, Detroit Food Policy Council’s Winona Bynum, and Stay Midtown participant Consuelo Jackson

Detroit Equitable Development Initiative

In June, we wrapped up the third cohort of our Detroit Equitable Development Initiative, in which we trained and mentored 20 real estate developers of color through online learning sessions, shifting from in-person sessions as a result of COVID-19. Participants presented their final group projects virtually to an audience and panel of key real estate and business professionals. Congratulations to all of our 2020 program participants!

The application for our fourth cohort will be live in the fall. If developers of color are interested in learning more, visit our Equitable Development Initiative webpage.

2020 Detroit EDI Participants

Diversity in Development – Detroit Loan Fund

Additionally, Capital Impact, with support from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund, launched the $12.5 million Diversity in Development – Detroit Loan Fund in an effort to increase support for real estate developers of color leading multifamily and mixed-use projects throughout the city. The fund provides a new tool to increase Capital Impact’s long-time commitment to equitable development and inclusive growth in Detroit, by deploying low-cost and flexible construction financing to developers of color who live in and around Detroit — with a preference given to graduates of Capital Impact’s Equitable Development Initiative.

Our goal is to create pathways of success for those developers who have not been able to enter the real estate industry due to lack of capital, equity, and experience as a result of structural racism and disinvestment. In doing so, we can help ensure Detroit’s developers are more representative of the city’s residents.

►Learn more about this fund

Women are the backbone of communities and we are proud to partner with female leaders who are building power for their communities. In Detroit, Sue Mosey has been a long-standing champion of community development and economic mobility for city residents. In a story from our annual report, read how Sue has worked to make Detroit’s Midtown district a vibrant, inclusive place to live and work.

►Read Sue’s story

The Murray

The Murray – Hubbard Farms is a mixed-income, multifamily project in Southwest Detroit. These long-abandoned row homes will undergo a total renovation to become 12 units of modern, efficient housing across 16,404 square feet, including three units that will be offered as affordable housing at 60 percent of the Area Median Income. The $4.57 million project is slated for completion in mid-2021.

Capital Impact provided $2.2 million in loans – in part through our Detroit Neighborhoods Fund – to support the rehab of this historic landmark in the Hubbard Farms Historic District. It is Capital Impact’s first multifamily project in the southwest neighborhood, on which we are proud to support a Black-owned development company to lead, W. Emery Matthews’ Real Estate Interests LLC.

Crain’s Detroit had the exclusive on the launch of our Diversity in Development – Detroit Loan Fund. Read more!

Capital Impact Partners-CDC Small Business Finance Alliance

• dBusiness – Detroit to Pilot New Program to Empower Equitable Community Growth
• Sustainable Brands – New Lending Industry Alliance to Bolster Underserved Communities
• Impact Alpha – Can real estate financing + small business lending = equitable community growth?

Groundbreaking of The Murray-Hubbard Farms

• The Detroit News – Detroit Project to Turn Empty Eyesore Into Apartment Homes
• modelD – Black-Owned Firm Leads Redevelopment of Historic Rowhomes in Hubbard Farms
• dbusiness – Historic Lofts Coming to Hubbard Farms Neighborhood in Detroit’s Mexicantown

As we continue to adjust to the ever-changing challenges of COVID-19, we wanted to remind you to please engage us on any concerns, questions or ideas connected to building equity and power for our communities. We will continue to adapt with you, our borrowers and partners, and your operational changes as we seek to support the communities we are privileged to serve.

Please visit here and here for a list of individuals you can contact for support. Stay safe and healthy!

In California and across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the deep and systemic inequities impacting communities of color. Now, more than ever, we must stand with these communities by delivering the capital and commitment that supports their efforts to deliver critical social services, expand affordable housing, and create economic empowerment.

In this newsletter, read about how Capital Impact Partners has pivoted to help communities meet this challenge. From new loans for housing projects in the Bay Area to a new alliance with the nation’s leading small business lender, we have not slowed down our commitment to help create strong, vibrant, and healthy places of opportunity for all Californians.

Capital Impact Partners and San Diego-based CDC Small Business Finance – the nation’s leading mission-based small business lender – are excited to announce a new alliance that will focus on developing and implementing high-touch, scalable solutions that support economic empowerment and equitable wealth creation. Los Angeles will serve as one of the three place-based pilot locations where cross-organizational teams will actively engage with community members to understand the problems that are unique to the region and work with local organizations to create tools, programs, and services that are strategically customized to address those high-priority issues.

► Read Our Full Press Release for Details

Since the beginning of the year and throughout the pandemic, Capital Impact has continued to provide financing to organizations so that they can support their communities. Read through some of the ways we are supporting Californians:

Rolison Apartments

Through our partnership in the Bay’s Future Fund lending initiative, Capital Impact Partners is providing a $1.3 million acquisition loan to HIP Housing to finance the $3.3 million purchase of a fully occupied 10-unit apartment property in Redwood City. HIP’s acquisition of this property preserves 10 units of affordable housing, 100 percent of which will be restricted for 55 years to households with low incomes (60 percent of Area Median Income). Affordable housing is critical in this area, which, due to the city’s proximity to several high-profile tech companies, has a median rent that is nearly twice the national average and the largest unsheltered homeless population of any city in San Mateo County (as of 2019).

Altura Centers for Health

To acquire its South Tulare Clinic in in Tulare, CA, Capital Impact provided Altura Centers for Health with a $1 million loan through the CPCA Ventures Loan Program. Altura provides medical, dental, and behavioral health services to children and adults in Tulare County, serving up to 27,000 patients each year, the majority of whom experience poverty. The acquisition of this property will allow Altura to make this a permanent home for their clients to access a full continuum of care.

North Orange County Regional Health Foundation

Capital Impact provided a $300,000 loan to North Orange County Regional Health Foundation, a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Fullerton, California. Financed through the CPCA Ventures Loan Program, the loan will facilitate the integration of a new Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system and purchase updated furniture and equipment. In a community where more than 75 percent of residents experience poverty, quality, accurate health care is vital.

Westside Family Health Center

Westside Family Health Center (WFHC) received a $3 million loan through Capital Impact’s Healthier California Fund to finance tenant improvements in a 24,500-square-foot, three-story commercial building in Culver City, CA. WHFC will renovate the space for use as its main clinic and will relocate its existing clinic operations to the new location.

The Achievable Foundation

To support The Achievable Foundation’s general operations that were impacted by COVID-19, Capital Impact provided a $500,000 working capital loan through the CPCA Ventures Loan Fund. The Achievable Foundation is a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) located in Culver City, CA, who previously utilized the CPCA Loan Program in 2015 after obtaining their FQHC designation. The health center focuses on primary care and supportive services for people with disabilities, and they are the only FQHC in Los Angeles County, and one of a handful across the country, with this overall focus.

Equitas Academy/Ednovate Charter Schools

Equitas Academy and Ednovate are two high-performing charter school operators that support communities experiencing poverty in Los Angeles, CA, both of which are return borrowers with Capital Impact. With the COVID-19 pandemic, these schools and others have had difficulty with maintaining their services with reduced revenue. Capital Impact provided Equitas and Ednovate each with a $3 million Line of Credit; these funds will enable both organizations to continue expanding and serving their students and communities through this period of uncertainty. Read our story about how Equitas is building high-quality education for its students.

Meet the Capital Impact team (virtually) at upcoming events across California! We will be attending and presenting at conferences and events, including the following:

Housing California – August 31-September 4

SOCAP Virtual – October 19-23

OFN Conference 2020 – November 9-12

Would you like to make a career change this year? Capital Impact offers a mission-driven experience and a suite of benefits. Check out our opening positions and join us! We look forward to hearing from all interested candidates.

►Join Us!

In the Washington Metropolitan area, and across the country, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the deep and systemic inequities impacting communities of color. Now, more than ever, we must stand with these communities by delivering the capital and commitment that supports their efforts to deliver critical social services, expand affordable housing, and create economic empowerment.

In this newsletter, read about how Capital Impact Partners has pivoted to help communities meet this challenge. From COVID response funds for inclusive food systems and entrepreneurs of color to new loans for education in the D.C. Metro area to a new alliance with the nation’s leading small business lender, we have not slowed down our commitment to help create strong, vibrant, and healthy places of opportunity for all Washington area residents.

Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance – the nation’s leading mission-based small business lender – are excited to announce a new alliance that will focus on developing and implementing high-touch, scalable solutions that support economic empowerment and equitable wealth creation. The D.C. Metro area will serve as one of the three key place-based pilot locations where cross-organizational teams will actively engage with community members to understand the problems that are unique to the region and work with local organizations to create tools, programs, and services that are strategically customized to address those high-priority issues.

►Read Our Full Press Release for Details

As the pandemic took hold, it become clear that organizations and individuals were going to need additional support to weather the social and economic impacts. To help local entrepreneurs transition successfully, Capital Impact created innovative emergency funding opportunities so that community-based organizations could remain viable.

Entrepreneurs of Color Fund

We deployed $200,000 in emergency grant funds to our Entrepreneurs of Color Fund (EOCF) partners in the D.C. Metro area: Wacif and LEDC. Both organizations are dealing with unprecedented requests from their small business clients for loan restructuring or forbearance. These grant funds allow them to provide additional flexibility to their borrowers, which have had to substantially alter the way they do business during this time.

DMV GFF Innovative Response Fund

Capital Impact launched its DMV Good Food Fund (DMV GFF) Innovative Response Fund, providing $100,000 in awards to key partners in order to sustain and stabilize mission-aligned good food enterprises in the Washington Metro area. Given with the generous support of the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, the awards allow local good food enterprises to reposition and pivot in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts on the regional food economy.

►Learn about the Response Fund Awardees

We are now accepting applications for the latest cohort of our Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) in the Washington Metropolitan area. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, real estate development in the DMV continues. Given the disproportionate impacts on communities of color, as well as lasting inequities developers of colors experience, it is now as important as ever that developers who represent their communities are engaged in shaping the future of this region.

EDI participants receive broad-based training, including project budgeting, real estate finance, project and contractor management, legal services, and community engagement. Apply through September 9th and spread the word!

►Find Out More about EDI and how to Apply for Our Next Cohort

Nationwide, cooperatives are on the rise to create dignified employment, ownership, and wealth-building opportunities. In June, the Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif) and Capital Impact Partners awarded $40,000 in grants to support cooperatively owned businesses through the D.C. Co-op Impact Grant initiative, launched in partnership with Citi Community Development. The awards are advancing the growth of emerging and existing cooperatively owned businesses led by communities of color and workers looking to break free from low-wage employment throughout the Washington, D.C. area.

►Meet the D.C.-area Co-ops Who Received Awards

Our President and CEO Ellis Carr has been asked by Washington, D.C.’s Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan R. McDuffie to serve on the D.C. Equitable Recovery Advisory Group. This advisory group will be singularly focused on recommending which steps the District should take to improve the overall health and economic security of Black residents and to ensure that the city’s recovery response is equitable. Ellis is excited about this opportunity to foster equitable growth for District residents.

Additionally, several of our partners are joining Washington, D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Reopen D.C. Advisory Group. Members include Sarosh Olpadwala, real estate director for the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development (DMPED), and Buwa Binitie, chairman of the board for the D.C. Housing Finance Agency and founder of development firm Dantes Partners. DMPED and Dantes Partners have been strong partners of our EDI-DMV program. We are glad to see our network of partners helping to counsel the city through this critical recovery phase.

►Read More about Reopen D.C.

In April – amidst the coronavirus pandemic – we closed a $2.9 million loan as part of a larger $12 million financing package for the Richard Wright Public Charter School for Journalism and Media Arts. This loan will help Richard Wright transform its currently leased space into a bright and spacious new high school campus with room to grow, as well as creating space for an early childhood education charter school.

Richard Wright Public Charter School’s dedication to making a difference for its students is clear: its programming for students, including those living with disabilities, has resulted in a 100 percent college acceptance rate.

Meet the Capital Impact team (virtually) at upcoming events! We will be attending and presenting at conferences and events, including the following:

SOCAP Virtual – October 19-23

D.C. Charter School Conference – October 26-30

OFN Conference 2020 – November 9-12

Would you like to make a career change this year? Capital Impact offers a mission-driven experience and a suite of benefits. Check out our opening positions, including D.C. Program Specialist and Innovation & Strategy Specialist. We look forward to hearing from all interested candidates.

►Join Us!