By Ellis Carr, President and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance
Ten years ago, Capital Impact Partners received an invitation from the Kresge Foundation to join in an effort to support Detroit as the city was reeling in the turbulence of the great recession. It was a seminal moment in our organization’s history, resulting in key shifts to our strategy and how we thought about investing – not only in buildings – but in communities.
Our Spotlight series is designed to introduce you to the many people in our new enterprise who are working hard to drive change and create a powerful new voice for communities and small businesses.
Earlier this year, we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership team.
In this Spotlight, meet Brian McEvoy, our General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Corporate Secretary.
The last 18 months, lived in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, have opened eyes across our country to the inherent inequities that communities of color and communities living with low incomes experience in all aspects of life. Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) have a particular mandate to address these inequities and implement practices that help communities thrive. What has the racial reckoning of the past several months meant for CDFIs?
This year’s award supported five organizations, including Collective Remake, Cooperation Humboldt, Co-op Cincy, Co-op Dayton, and Custom Collaborative
Arlington, VA (September 29, 2021) – In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with increased visibility of racial violence and inequity, cooperatives have demonstrated their continued ability to promote resiliency and growth toward shared prosperity for communities.
The seventh annual Capital Impact Partners Co-op Innovation Award – which aims to increase co-op development in communities with low incomes and/or communities of color – focused on supporting organizations that are expanding education about the cooperative model in the face of the twin pandemics of COVID and racial injustice.
Welcome to our Spotlight series where we highlight members of our new enterprise with CDC Small Business Finance.
Earlier this year we announced the formation of our exciting new enterprise that united Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance under a single strategy and leadership team.
We believe that in order to ensure that traditional and mainstream financial systems are equitably serving Black, Hispanic, and Indigenous communities to drive solutions that support economic mobility and wealth creation, we must think differently. This series is designed to introduce you to the many people who are working hard to drive change and create a powerful new voice for communities and small businesses.
Our first Spotlight is on Natalie Nickens Gunn. Natalie is our Chief Financial Officer.
Innovative Program Provides Critical Training to Help Developers of Color Overcome Systemic Issues and Spearhead Affordable Real Estate Projects
September 22, 2021 (Oakland, CA/Arlington, VA) – While there is a critical need to address the San Francisco Bay Area’s housing crisis in a way that supports racial and economic inclusion, developers who identify as racial or ethnic minorities are severely underrepresented in a market dominated by large global and national firms. In an effort to help solve this crisis, Capital Impact Partners announced the expansion of its Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) into the region to help local real estate developers of color who represent the region’s diversity take a leadership role in shaping the development landscape within the local context. These developers have historically faced significant barriers to entering the real estate industry due to the lack of access to capital, equity, and experience resulting from generations of structural racism and disinvestment.
Award Will Spur Projects that Increase Access to Social Services in Disinvested Communities
Arlington, VA (September 1, 2021) — The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) has awarded Capital Impact Partners a $60 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation. This award helps advance Capital Impact’s mission to increase access to critical social services in disinvested communities, spur economic development and wealth creation, and create jobs by incentivizing private sector investors to partner in its community financing efforts.
Oakland, Ca. is a vibrant place, a reflection of the multicultural communities within its borders. However, Oakland also experiences poverty, limited social services, and crime, which hold its communities back – particularly communities of color – from achieving their full potential.
Over the past several years, Oakland has seen an influx of residents as the demand for housing in the San Francisco Bay area has driven many people there, on top of the residents who already called the city home.
Arlington, VA, Chicago, IL, and Delray Beach, FL (August 5, 2021) – Capital Impact Partners today announced that it has achieved a significant impact investing milestone by issuing more than $200 million of Capital Impact Investment Notes (Notes), the net proceeds of which help drive social impact through investment in organizations that provide access to critical social services, including health care, education, affordable housing, and healthy foods. Capital Impact partners with InspereX LLC to distribute the Notes through its Legacy™ Platform to a nationwide network of broker-dealers, institutions, and financial advisors.
By Ellis Carr, President and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance
Last year I opened up my Annual Report letter with a reference to COVID-19. While we were still grasping the seriousness of the situation, we could never have realized the extent to which the pandemic would dominate almost every facet of our lives. Now, as vaccines continue to roll out and many begin to “return to normal”, what we feared then has become reality. Communities of color will be grappling with the long-term impacts for months, if not years to come.
