Insights

Early in 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) published their proposal for comprehensive amendments to the rules implementing the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). The following statement is Reinvestment Fund’s response to the proposed changes and was submitted to the OCC as part of our comments.

Our communities are feeling the financial impact of COVID-19 and at Reinvestment Fund, our goal is to help alleviate some of the immediate financial pressures and ultimately to preserve local assets.

Fund to sustain early learning providers, including childcare, pre-k, and home visiting programs serving children from birth to age five

Given the significant measures in the U.S. at this time to lessen the spread and impact of COVID-19, Reinvestment Fund has activated its remote work policy for all employees.

An update on the steps we are taking to ensure the wellbeing of our staff and minimize business disruption

We are carefully monitoring the evolving Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation and are taking steps to ensure the wellbeing of our staff, partners and the communities we serve. As we continue to plan on minimizing business disruption, we’d like to share with you some updates and steps we are taking to manage the potential impact.

GoATL Fund (GoATL), an impact investment fund launched by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, announced $1.5 million in two investments to Reinvestment Fund. The first investment, $1 million, will expand Reinvestment Fund existing GoATL investment supporting a diverse portfolio of impactful projects throughout metro Atlanta. The second investment of $500,000 will target support to early childhood education (ECE) projects across the region.

We are grateful for another impactful year—your support and investment in Reinvestment Fund helped us originate $158.5 million in 2019 to finance homes that families can afford, schools where students can succeed, stores to get nutritious food, and strong businesses.

We are deeply concerned by Comptroller Joseph Otting’s proposed changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), the subject of today’s hearing by the House Financial Services Committee. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have set forth a proposal that must be reevaluated to preserve the fundamental purpose of CRA – to address inequalities in bank lending and to drive investments toward impactful community development activities.

Bread & Roses Community Fund, the leading funder of grassroots organizing for racial, social, and economic justice in the Philadelphia region, is receiving a $15,000 Community Champion Award from Reinvestment Fund in recognition of its work supporting grassroots organizing for change, and to fuel that work in the future.

The Federal Reserve Board recently announced Reinvestment Fund CEO, Don Hinkle-Brown, to serve as Chair of its Community Advisory Council (CAC). Mr. Hinkle-Brown previously served a term as Vice Chair beginning in 2018. The CAC is composed of a diverse group of experts and representatives of consumer, workforce, and community development organizations and interests, including from such fields as affordable housing, economic development, labor, small business, and asset and wealth building. CAC members provide information, advice, and recommendations to the Board on relevant policy matters and emerging issues of interest.

Reinvestment Fund recently closed on a loan to First Step Staffing, Inc., the nation’s largest nonprofit social enterprise staffing company. The $3 million loan is led by Reinvestment Fund, with participations from Atlanta Emerging Markets, Inc. (AEMI) and Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE).

This week, the House and Senate cleared the fiscal year 2020 spending bills. The legislative packages include increased investment in the United States Department of Agriculture’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI). HFFI is administered by Reinvestment Fund on behalf of USDA Rural Development to improve access to healthy food in underserved areas.  The bills now await the President’s signature. Read our full statement.

Reinvestment Fund announced three initiatives in memory of its founding Executive Director, Jeremy Nowak. Jeremy led Reinvestment Fund for 26 years, establishing a powerful vision for strong, equitable communities. The initiatives honor key aspects of Jeremy’s life work.

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health has announced the launch of the Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative, an exciting new program in partnership with the Reinvestment Fund to support community-driven projects to advance food justice. As part of the launch, the initiative announced the selection of six projects for a total of $180,000 in funding support.

Reinvestment Fund today announced $1.8 million in financial and technical assistance awards to 23 projects through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) inaugural grants program. Funding for the HFFI grants program is provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. Ten projects received a total of $1.4 million in financial assistance and another 13 projects received a total of $400,000 in technical assistance awards.

Reinvestment Fund today announced $1.8 million in financial and technical assistance awards to 23 projects through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) inaugural grants program. Funding for the HFFI grants program is provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill. Ten projects received a total of $1.4 million in financial assistance and another 13 projects received a total of $400,000 in technical assistance awards.

Reinvestment Fund announced the appointment of Jeff Hebert, Partner at HR&A Advisors to its Policy Advisory Board. The Policy Advisory Board provides strategic direction to Reinvestment Fund’s policy research and analytical efforts. It also reviews Reinvestment Fund’s research methods and products.

Reinvestment Fund announced the appointment of Jeff Hebert, Partner at HR&A Advisors to its Policy Advisory Board. The Policy Advisory Board provides strategic direction to Reinvestment Fund’s policy research and analytical efforts. It also reviews Reinvestment Fund’s research methods and products.

Reinvestment Fund announced Yonina Gray as its new Director of External Relations, responsible for driving national business development objectives to establish new market presence and relationships that pave the way for organizational growth.

Reinvestment Fund is offering a new capital and planning resource that aims to increase access to healthy, nutritious meals for children from vulnerable populations. The New Jersey Child Nutrition Fund (NJCNF) offers capital and technical assistance to providers who participate or wish to participate in federal meal programs, Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and the Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). NJCNF is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Reinvestment Fund is pleased to welcome Marland Buckner, Mike Davis and Vicki Lundy Wilbon to its Board of Directors. The new Board members bring varied professional experience from public affairs to education to real estate development, and an expansive understanding of communities and regions in the Southeastern United States.

Reinvestment Fund is a national mission-driven financial institution that creates opportunity for underserved people and places through partnerships. In 2018, we marshaled the capital, analytics, and expertise necessary to build strong, healthy, and more equitable communities. Among the highlights: We invested $217.9 million, including $43 million in our hometown of Philadelphia and $33 million in the City of Baltimore.

GoATL Fund (GoATL), an impact investment fund launched by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, recently closed a new $1 million investment to Reinvestment Fund to support a diverse portfolio of impactful investments throughout metro Atlanta. Focused primarily on low-income neighborhoods with historically deprived levels of investment, GoATL’s investment will provide Reinvestment Fund with locally-sourced, flexible capital that will support initiatives in education, food access, the arts and affordable housing.

Reinvestment Fund announced Tracy Murray Moore as its new Chief Human Resources Officer. As CHRO, she is responsible for developing and executing the human resource strategy in support of Reinvestment Fund’s overall business plan and strategic direction, specifically in the areas of succession planning, talent management, change management, organizational and performance management, training, development, and compensation.

With wide bipartisan support, Congress passed The Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (also known as the Farm Bill), which reauthorizes and expands the national Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) at the United States Department of Agriculture. In addition to providing healthy food for families, the bipartisan bill supports farmers and agricultural economy, invests in small towns and rural communities and supports local food economies.

Reinvestment Fund is inviting applications for financial and technical assistance through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative’s (HFFI) inaugural grants program. Funding for the HFFI grants program is supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), authorized by the 2014 Farm Bill.  As the National Fund Manager, Reinvestment Fund will offer financial resources and expertise to eligible healthy food retail projects to expand access to healthy foods in underserved areas, to create and preserve quality jobs, and to revitalize low-income communities.

At Reinvestment Fund, the essence of our work is to build social cohesion and restore community fabric. This past week, we witnessed ghastly events fueled by division and hate—experiences that are fundamentally antithetical to our values. These challenging events underscore that our friendships, alliances and shared support is more important now than ever before.

The Federal Reserve Board announced that Reinvestment Fund CEO, Don Hinkle-Brown, will serve as Vice Chair of its Community Advisory Council (CAC), beginning in 2019. Mr. Hinkle-Brown began his three-year term on the CAC in 2018.

Reinvestment Fund, an S&P rated Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), today announced the close of $75.7 million in general obligation bonds. Reinvestment Fund was one of the first CDFIs to access the capital markets in 2017 and this marks their second issuance.

Reinvestment Fund announced Cheila Fernandez as its new Chief Compliance & Risk Officer. This new position will lead the growing organization’s internal risk management and compliance.

Reinvestment Fund is pleased to welcome Dudley Benoit to its Board of Directors. Mr. Benoit, a long-time leader in the community development finance field, serves as Executive Vice President of Alliant Capital, Ltd., a top tax credit syndicator for the financing and development of affordable housing. Mr. Benoit has over 20 years of experience in the community development and real estate finance fields.

Despite gains over the past decade, limited access to healthy food continues to affect residents of both urban and rural communities across the United States—which is why Reinvestment Fund recently updated its Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) analysis. According to the 2018 update, 17.6 million people (5.6% of the population) live in LSA areas, a decrease of 3.1 million people (or 15%) from 2010.

Remembering and Honoring Jeremy Nowak and other news

Jeremy Nowak was a visionary leader, who worked tirelessly for equity in low-income communities. As we grieve the loss of our founder, we share with you a glimpse into his brilliance and what made him one-of-a-kind.

We at Reinvestment Fund are grieving the loss of our founder, Jeremy Nowak. Jeremy was a powerful, insightful and tireless voice for our nation’s underserved people and places. The world is diminished by his passing.

Reinvestment Fund and The Philadelphia Foundation announced the launch of PhilaImpactFund, a new place-based impact investment opportunity targeted to the Greater Philadelphia region. The Fund is believed to be a first-of-its-kind collaboration between a community foundation, The Philadelphia Foundation, and an asset manager that also originates community development loans, Reinvestment Fund. Each organization has committed $5 million toward PhilaImpact Fund’s $30 million goal.

Reinvestment Fund’s Senior Policy Advisor, Patricia Smith, has been named President and CEO of The Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, a robust network of more than 170 philanthropic foundations across the U.S. and Canada.

Since 2014, Reinvestment Fund has been working with cities and organizations around the country to accelerate the creation of new healthy food options in underserved communities. This partnership, called ReFresh (https://www.reinvestment.com/initiatives/refresh/), has led to the creation of new data tools and market reports designed to help communities target healthy food investments.

Mortgage application data, released under reporting requirements in the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA), are a fascinating source of information for cities and communities. These data help us understand where residents are applying for mortgages to purchase new homes or refinance their existing home.

Policymakers often struggle with the fact that policy options are seldom visualized on a map. Indeed policy decisions depend upon a multitude of variables that are rarely tied to geographical boundaries. Yet, it is often at the geographic level that policymakers want to see an impact. Thanks to the Market Value Analysis (MVA), it is possible to identify the housing market intervention policies that will be the most effective based on geographic characteristics.

In 2015, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) created a new requirement that jurisdictions conduct an Assessment of Fair Housing (AFH) planning process in support of the Fair Housing Act’s mandate to “affirmatively further fair housing.” Policy Solutions—along with Enterprise Community Partners, Abt Associates, and PolicyMap—was part of the technical assistance team that aided the City of Philadelphia with data and analysis to inform the local AFH. The MVA was a critical tool in this effort and I wanted to share just a few of the ways that the City incorporated the MVA into the AFH: https://goo.gl/lmkMnL

New report from Reinvestment Fund and May8 Consulting on the impact of different approaches to Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) development (i.e., single-site multi-family versus scattered-site single family) in Philadelphia.

A reflection on St. Louis’ journey to embed neighborhood market types into our private sector community development practice and a summary of our journey to date, while unfinished, is at the following link: https://goo.gl/NWRFnn.

One commonly held view among housing practitioners and policymakers is that building homeownership is essential to building strong communities. Home equity has historically helped build wealth, and homeowners are stabilizing forces, who are more likely to invest in home maintenance. However, our experience building MVAs suggests that rental markets can also be sources of opportunity and strength, especially when they are near job centers, transportation hubs, or other amenities.

“Middle Neighborhoods” or middle markets are an important focus for many of the cities in which we have conducted MVAs. These areas fall somewhere on the MVA spectrum from relatively strong to showing only modest levels of distress. They are home to many city residents, oftentimes the majority of a city’s population, and they tend to be more racially integrated than other parts of cities. But they are generally not places where federal programs or philanthropic attention is focused.

Back in May, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia hosted a conference titled “Gentrification and Neighborhood Change.” Other sponsors of the event were the NYU Furman Center, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and HUD. There were several pieces of research presented on topics related to gentrification. (Conference website: http://bit.ly/2bqazKE)