U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund awards New Jersey Community Capital $565,000 to support investment in low-income and distressed communities.
New Brunswick, NJ (November 27, 2019) – New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a $565,000 Financial Assistance grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). NJCC is the only New Jersey-based CDFI to receive a Financial Assistance (FA) award this year and one of only 107 community loan funds awarded nationally.
NJCC will use the CDFI Fund Award to increase lending for the Partnership to Invest in Transformative Community Health (PITCH) program, a newly established fund designed to invest in the creation of quality, affordable homes and community health facilities in low-income communities across New Jersey. PITCH provides a flexible source of loan capital to mission-aligned borrowers for high impact projects with an integrated health approach.
“NJCC believes that health equity can only be achieved once disparity and barriers to opportunity are removed and low-income individuals are afforded improved access to housing, food, transportation, education, and the associated resources available in their community,” said Wayne T. Meyer, President of NJCC. “Support from the CDFI Fund has been vital to the success and expansion of NJCC’s community-driven initiatives. This funding will help us expand our programs and accelerate equitable access to quality housing and health in targeted communities across New Jersey.”
As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), NJCC uses federal funding through the CDFI Fund’s competitive grant programs to leverage private capital and finance meaningful projects in areas where mainstream capital is scarce but need is greatest. The CDFI Fund awards organizations that best demonstrate how they will partner with their communities to address these needs, allowing local decision-making over deployment. To date, NJCC has been awarded $14.8 million in federal grants. In addition to FA grant support, this includes $50 million in CDFI Fund-administered Bond Guarantees and $250 million in New Market Tax Credits. Together with other capital, this funding has leveraged $1.78 billion to help NJCC create 10,330 quality housing units, 19,760 education seats, 6,340 child care seats, 5.6 million commercial and community square feet, and 12,390 jobs in some of the state’s most distressed communities.
“By pairing a people-based strategy with a place-based approach, NJCC is able to direct capital at a catalytic scale for communities in need of comprehensive social and economic growth,” said Marie Mascherin, Chief Operating Officer at NJCC. “It is yet another example of our long-standing commitment to creating healthy, equitable opportunities for low-income communities.”
The CDFI Fund received FY2019 funding requests from 412 applicants totaling $363.5 million and awarded $132 million in Financial Assistance awards to 261 organizations in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Since 1994, the CDFI Fund has provided over $1.8 billion in total assistance to community development organizations.
About New Jersey Community Capital
New Jersey Community Capital is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that provides innovative financing and technical assistance to support sustainable community development ventures that develop and preserve affordable housing, increase jobs, improve educational opportunities, and strengthen neighborhoods to ensure that communities can thrive. For more information: www.newjerseycommunitycapital.org.