June 8, 2021 (Washington, D.C./Arlington, VA) — The Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif) and Capital Impact Partners today announced $40,000 in grant awards to four existing and emerging cooperatively owned businesses through the D.C. Co-op Impact Grant. In its second year, the grant advances community development by encouraging the growth of quality jobs, sustainable businesses, leadership development, and asset building through an equitable cooperative model.
“In its first year, the DC Co-op Impact Grant awarded $40,000 to seven local cooperatives in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, and helped these businesses pivot, survive, and even thrive during a time of tremendous uncertainty,” said Jennifer Bryant, Wacif Program Manager for Community Wealth Building Initiatives. “This year, as we chart a path to a new normal, the D.C. Co-op Impact Grant mobilizes necessary support for early-stage cooperatives as they create resilient infrastructure and economic opportunity for both their businesses and communities.”
As the Greater Washington region undergoes a period of economic recovery, funding relief is critical to maintaining the resiliency of the region’s small businesses. The D.C. Co-op Impact Grant’s support of cooperatively owned businesses accelerates this reality by providing catalytic capital to attract funders, increasing exposure of D.C.-area cooperatives, and delivering loan-readiness support for early-stage cooperatives.
“The co-ops supported by the D.C. Co-op Impact Grant fill gaps in their communities, create quality jobs that build economic mobility and assets, provide vital community services like healthy food and home care, and help workers to access the mainstream economy,” said Alison Powers, Cooperative & Community Initiatives Manager at Capital Impact Partners. “As we see an explosion of regional interest in the co-op model, this grant demonstrates that funding can be a catalyst for the local co-op ecosystem.”
The recipients of the D.C. Co-op Impact Grant range from a start-up, worker-owned grocery store in Ward 7 to a collective advocating for the rights of D.C.’s street and sidewalk entrepreneurs. Learn more about the four cooperatives and their visions below:
CareWorks Community Homecare Cooperative will create quality jobs for workers and enhance home care service delivery for residents in Highland Park (Ward 8), a community facing some of the highest chronic health conditions in Washington, D.C. The co-op will be supported by Dynamic Solutions for the Aging, LLC, a health and housing organization located in Ward 8 that focuses on aging and community development. Funds will be used to conduct a feasibility study of the local market and proof of concept for the home care co-op.
Vendedores Unidos / Vendors United (VU) is a collective, looking to create a cooperative, formed in response to laws penalizing street and sidewalk vendors, including a 90-day prison sentence for operating without a license. Black, African, and Latinx street entrepreneurs face deep systemic barriers, and VU has tirelessly advocated for policy changes to increase the safety and accessibility of street vending. The co-op will ensure fair wages and jobs for vendors, and will provide some of the most vulnerable workers in the city an opportunity to transition out of an informal economy and gain control over their workplace. The funds will be used to formalize the co-op and provide technical assistance, including bookkeeping, conflict resolution, and personal financial literacy.
Deanwood Co-op (name TBD) is a start-up, worker-owned grocery store bringing organic and locally grown foods to the neighborhood, supporting local farmers, and creating jobs for Ward 7’s Deanwood community. The grocery store will be the cornerstone of a community-focused mixed-use development called Deanwood Station, supported by CDC Medici Road. This innovative model will enable members of the community to obtain ownership equity and benefit from the success of a business that they co-own. Funds will support business planning and worker-owner training.
The D.C. Language Co-op will launch in 2021 to provide language access for monolingual, non-English speakers, subsidized services for organizations unable to afford interpretation services, and training and mentorship for bilingual young people pursuing interpretation careers. The co-op will formalize the group currently providing freelance services (recently working at a Vendedores Unidos/Vendors United event), and will deliver professional development opportunities to communities. Funds will support cooperative business infrastructure, planning, and operations.
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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 the Washington Area Community Investment Fund
The Washington Area Community Investment Fund, Inc. (Wacif) is one of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) focused on small business development. Wacif’s mission is to increase economic opportunity in communities in the Washington, D.C. area by investing knowledge, social, and financial capital in low-and-moderate-income entrepreneurs. To learn more about Wacif’s mission, visit www.wacif.org.
