Insights

“Jeremy had a deep appreciation for combining the richness and rigor of academia with an orientation of tangible accomplishment,” shared Don Hinkle-Brown, President and CEO of Reinvestment Fund. “With this fellowship in his memory, we are delighted to be able to give a student the opportunity to gain some real-life experience in their chosen field as part of their professional growth.”

Reinvestment Fund today announced $700,425 in emergency meal grant awards under the New Jersey Child Nutrition Fund (NJCNF) program to 41 organizations that are helping to make sure children and families get healthy food to eat at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted normal channels.

In 2019 Policy Solutions partnered with Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) to conduct a study of historical patterns of homeownership rates for different racial/ethnic groups throughout the 21st century. The study findings highlight the ongoing persistence of gaps in White and non-White homeownership throughout Pennsylvania.

Reinvestment Fund completed a study of the City of Cleveland’s residential tax abatement program. The study examined 15 years of abatement activity to identify patterns of where abatement activity has been most concentrated, to understand the fiscal impacts the abatement has had on local tax revenues, and to identify opportunities to update the program in response to contemporary market conditions in the city.

Reinvestment Fund, the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Children and Families, Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC), and United Way are conducting a city-wide survey to understand childcare needs as people head back to work and school. Parents and guardians can participate on the online survey anonymously to share their needs and concerns around care for children ages 0 to 5 in their household.

Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands; we have no right to assume otherwise.

Reinvestment Fund is inviting applications for financial and technical assistance through the 2020 round of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Targeted Small Grants Program.

Reinvestment Fund is inviting applications for the 2020 round of the Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI) Targeted Small Grants program. The 2020 HFFI round significantly increases the available funding compared to the previous round, making $3 million in grant funds available for food retail and food enterprises working to improve access to healthy food in underserved areas, to create and preserve quality jobs, and to revitalize low-income communities.

In this Brief, Reinvestment Fund reviews the learnings from an analysis of JBAs as well as interviews with tenants and landlords (and their respective attorneys) and court observation.

Reinvestment Fund announced $1.2 million in grant awards to 89 childcare providers, early intervention and home visiting service organizations under the Philadelphia Emergency Fund for Stabilization of Early Education (PEFSEE) program. PEFSEE is a collaboration of the William Penn Foundation, Vanguard’s Strong Start for Kids Program™ and Reinvestment Fund to support Philadelphia childcare providers who are struggling to sustain their businesses and early learning support for families through closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Across the country, 17.3 million rural U.S. residents lack equitable access to supermarkets. Reinvestment Fund’s new Rural Food Access Investment Area (RFAIA) analysis, uses 2012-2106 Census data to determine 11.3 million underserved rural residents live in areas that could support new or expanded food retail options. Despite the need for improved access to fresh and healthy foods in rural areas, many analyses of food access—and many investments to improve food access—have focused on urban areas.

Reinvestment Fund today released a new analysis that identifies Rural Food Access Investment Areas (Investment Areas). These Investment Areas are places in rural America that do not have easy access to healthy food retail but have the market demand to support investments in new and existing place-based solutions. Reinvestment Fund has identified 1,472 Investment Areas that are home to 11.7 million people in the rural U.S.

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.

During this time, all services are available and employees are accessible through their direct lines or via email during business hours of 9 am to 5 pm EST.

In 2014, with support from The William Penn Foundation, Reinvestment Fund conducted an initial analysis of the supply of and demand for child care in Philadelphia to identify areas of the city where targeted investments could help address shortages of high-quality child care. Now in its sixth update, Reinvestment Fund’s 2019 childcare analysis provides updated estimates to track the change over time in the supply of, demand for, and shortages in child care.

In 2014, with support from The William Penn Foundation, Reinvestment Fund conducted an initial analysis of the supply of and demand for child care in Philadelphia to identify areas of the city where targeted investments could help address shortages of high-quality child care. Now in its sixth update, Reinvestment Fund’s 2019 childcare analysis provides updated estimates to track the change over time in the supply of, demand for, and shortages in child care.

This report presents the results of descriptive and spatial analyses of the child care landscape in Philadelphia in 2019. It details both short- and long-term changes in the supply of, demand for, and gaps in care; the year-to-year changes from 2018 to 2019, as well as shifts since the first analyses were conducted in 2014. It is important to note that various factors could contribute to the observed changes. For example, demographic shifts can affect demand, operation cost can affect supply, and new policy initiatives and investments can directly impact gaps. To this last point, this analysis also presents the location of strategic investments made in facilities in high-gap areas through the Fund for Quality (FFQ). Subsequent updates to the childcare analysis will be conducted to assess the impact of FFQ investments on gaps between supply and demand for child care in the years ahead.

The series of reports, including the most recent, are available as the reports are published.

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.

Each year, the federal government releases a comprehensive database on mortgage lending activities across the US based on activity reported by lending institutions under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA). This year, there were a number of changes to the database; some changes from 2015 revisions expanded what we can know about mortgage applications (e.g., the age of borrowers) and other 2017-era changes limited that knowledge (e.g., suppressing applicant credit information). Read the report to see what the data reveals about mortgage lending activity in Philadelphia.

In 2020, Policy Solutions co-authored an article for a What Works in Community Development Volume that presents a case study about how to create mixed-income neighborhoods through affordable housing preservation.

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.