September 29, 2021 – (Arlington, VA) – In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, 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 — focused on supporting organizations that are expanding education about the cooperative model.
In partnership with The National Cooperative Bank, the 2021 awardees are Cooperation Humboldt ($20,000), Custom Collaborative ($25,000), Collective Remake ($25,000), Co-op Dayton ($25,000), and Co-op Cincy ($35,000). The awardees received a total of $130,000.
“Our Co-op Innovation Award has been going strong for seven years, supporting emerging co-op developers to build community prosperity in communities across the country,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance. “Co-ops provide a clear path to sovereignty and wealth building. Our partnership with The National Cooperative Bank and others continues to be a powerful tool to achieve this goal.”
“National Cooperative Bank is proud to once again work with Capital Impact Partners to award these deserving organizations with the Co-op Innovation Award” stated Charles Snyder, CEO of NCB. “Each organization is deeply rooted in their community and will enhance the cooperative model to increase community ownership. We look forward to seeing the impact of their work in the years to come.”
In addition, this year the award pool was expanded through the participation of additional sponsors Cabot Creamery, CUNA Mutual Group, and Local Government Federal Credit Union, helping augment the award opportunities by $30,000.
This year’s Co-op Innovation Award focused on utilizing the co-op model to develop new programs or strategies to address the impact of the economic crisis. Priority was given to food, worker, and housing cooperatives, but all sectors were invited to apply.
Since Capital Impact Partners started the Co-op Innovation Award in 2015, more than $515,000 in grants have been given to 17 organizations to innovative cooperative organizations nationwide. Those funds have been leveraged for more than $6.3 million to start emerging and support existing co-ops.
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About Capital Impact Partners
Capital Impact Partners, part of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations, is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people with access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. As one of the nation’s leading mission-driven Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), we help build strong communities and create generational wealth by deploying mission-driven financing, capacity-building programs, and impact investing opportunities.
Capital Impact Partners offers flexible financing for catalytic mission-aligned projects in four primary sectors: increasing access to health care, education, affordable housing, and healthy food.
In addition, we manage several multi-year initiatives in key regions to support emerging developers, small business owners, cooperatives, and community health enterprises through training, professional networks, access to experts and mentors, and pathways to grants and loan capital.
Capital Impact Partners has disbursed more than $3 billion since 1982 to create access to critical social services, grow entrepreneurs, and create quality jobs. Capital Impact Partners’ leadership in delivering financial and social impact has resulted in the organization being rated by S&P Global and Fitch Ratings and recognized by Aeris for its performance.
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations refers to the combined operations of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, as well as their affiliates, Momentus Direct Capital and Momentus Securities (an SEC-registered broker-dealer, MSRB-registered, FINRA/SIPC member). While each organization under the Momentus Capital brand still operates as a separate entity, their clients will now have access to more resources and products.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the Washington D.C. metro area.
Learn more at capitalimpact.org and momentuscap.org.
About National Cooperative Bank
National Cooperative Bank is dedicated to strengthening communities nationwide through the delivery of banking and financial services, complemented by a special focus on cooperative expansion and economic development. NCB provides financial products and services for the nation’s cooperatives, their members, and socially responsible organizations. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Bank has offices in Alaska, California, New York, Ohio and Virginia. To learn more, visit www.ncb.coop, National Cooperative Bank on Facebook and Instagram, or on Twitter @natlcoopbank.
