Capital Impact Partners Awarded $4 million from U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund
Washington, DC (August 26, 2014) Capital Impact Partners today received $4 million in award funding from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). Capital Impact Partners will use this grant to expand its strategic financing efforts and support increased access to quality health care and education, healthy foods, affordable housing and dignified aging alternatives for underserved communities.
“As a mission-driven institution, it is our job to support relatively risky projects that might not otherwise qualify for financing so that forward-thinking business operators can transform low income areas into strong, vibrant communities of opportunity,” said Terry Simonette, President and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. “This generous award will allow us to expand our impact.”
The CDFI Fund grant received by Capital Impact Partners is made up of two parts. The first is the Financial Assistance (FA) award given to support community financial development institutions (CDFI) to help sustain and expand their financial products and services.
The second is the Healthy Food Financing Initiative Financial Assistance (HFFI-FA) award, which serves as a supplemental funding opportunity for eligible CDFIs that expressed an interest in expanding their healthy food-focused financing activities and received an FA award. The HFFI-FA award supports the Obama Administration’s $400 million Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which is working to bring grocery stores and other healthy food retailers to underserved urban and rural communities across America.
Capital Impact Partners is one of only 12 CDFI’s out of 152 who received both FA and HFFI-FA award grants.
Capital Impact Partners will use the $2 million it received as part of the FA award to leverage other private and philanthropic capital investments, enabling the organization to increase its ability to disperse financing into underserved communities.
The $2 million that Capital Impact Partners received through this grant will be used to support healthy food financing initiatives in Michigan and California, including support for independent grocers, local wholesalers, and mobile fresh food marts that provide healthy foods in low-income areas.
“We are honored that the U.S. Department of Treasury selected us to receive these two awards and help ensure taxpayer money is strategically invested in underserved communities across this country,” said Scott Sporte, Chief Lending Officer of Capital Impact Partners. “We will use this funding to build on our 30 years of experience structuring innovative financial transactions that have consistently delivered financial and social impact.”
Capital Impact Partners invests in several sectors that provide vital services for underserved communities including:
Community Health Centers: Provided flexible low-cost financing to support a three-part expansion of the St. John’s Well Child Family Center in Los Angeles. St. John’s provides medical, dental, mental health services, case management, health education and social support to more than 100,000 low income and uninsured patients annually.
Charter Schools: Converted a bridge loan to 25-year fixed-rate financing at below market pricing for the Friends of Marion P Thomas and its affiliated charter school in Newark, New Jersey. The school provides high quality education to 760 low-income students in grades K-8. This loan provides the operators with predictability and allows them to dedicate as much of their revenue as possible to help their students jumpstart their education and climb out of poverty.
Healthy Grocery Stores: With The California Endowment we launched the $274 million California FreshWorks Fund to provide financing for grocery stores and other forms of healthy food retail and distribution outlets. From the expansion of the Northgate Gonzalez Markets in Inglewood, CA to the new El Rancho Marketplace in San Luis Obisbo, businesses funded through this fund have not only created new access to fresh, healthy food for thousands, but have also created jobs and increased the economic vitality of surrounding neighborhoods.
Place-Based Revitalization: In partnership with JPMorgan Chase, we are working to revitalize Detroit through such initiatives as our $30 million Detroit Neighborhoods Fund that supports financing for multi-family residential properties, mixed-use real estate and grocery stores. Other examples of our work include supporting two local entrepreneurs in their effort to rebuild the historic Forest Arms Building that has sat vacant since a devastating fire in 2008. It will see new life in the form of housing for 70 families with additional commercial space for local businesses.
Independent aging innovation: In addition to financing, we support independent and dignified aging alternatives to traditional nursing homes through our THE GREEN HOUSE® Project and Village to Village Network.
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About Capital Impact Partners
Capital Impact Partners transforms underserved communities into strong, vibrant places of opportunity for people at every stage of life. We deliver strategic financing, incubate new social programs and provide technical assistance to help ensure that low to moderate income individuals have access to quality health care and education, healthy foods, affordable housing and the ability to age with dignity. A non-profit community development financial institution, Capital Impact Partners has disbursed more $2 billion to revitalize communities over the last 30 years. Headquartered in Arlington, VA, Capital Impact Partners operates nationally with local offices in Detroit, MI and Oakland, CA. Read more at www.capitalimpact.org
About the CDFI Fund:
Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $1.9 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations, and financial institutions through the CDFI Program, the Bank Enterprise Award Program, the Capital Magnet Fund, the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program, and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $40 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and $325 million has been guaranteed in bonds through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please view the Fact Sheet or visit the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov.
