Reinvestment News Winter 2019

Strong, Healthy, Equitable

With Reinvestment Fund’s financial help, First Step Staffing—an Atlanta-based nonprofit—acquired a for-profit, Philadelphia-based staffing firm and converted the company into a mission-driven nonprofit dedicated to fighting homelessness through jobs. 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. Thirty percent of our lending went to states in the Southeast, and we extended our work into several new states, including Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi.We successfully raised a second, $76 million general obligation bond, $70 million in New Markets Tax Credits, and raised impact investments from community foundations in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Atlanta. Our Policy team completed five Market Value Analyses for cities across the country, including one for Bethlehem, PA, which won an award from the Lehigh Valley Planning Commission for its role in the city’s blight remediation plan. In Pittsburgh, PA, we partnered with philanthropy and the public sector to use the city’s fourth MVA to develop workforce housing strategies. And PolicyMap launched a powerful new tool for tracking housing trends using data provided by Zillow. This allows users to see how much housing is affordable to current residents, how much turnover is occurring, and how much equity residents have built up in their homes, which affects the fabric of a neighborhood and influences how its character might be changing.

Mt. Holly Gardens: A Case Study of Redevelopment in New Jersey

Across the United States, communities are struggling with the challenges associated with neighborhood decline in older suburban areas. The study looks at the redevelopment of Mount Holly Gardens, a case that nearly ended up before the Supreme Court, and whether a collective impact process could have led to better outcomes for residents and policymakers. Learn more.

HFFI Application Deadline: February 14

The Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), supported by the USDA, is making $1.8 million available for grants and technical assistance to eligible healthy food retail projects across the country.

HFFI aims to expand access to healthy foods in underserved areas, to create and preserve quality jobs, and to revitalize low-income communities.

Download the RFA | Read our FAQs | Apply Now

Workforce Affordable Housing: West Poplar Homes

Thanks to Reinvestment Fund financing, the Philadelphia Land Bank, and the Redevelopment Authority, 26 affordable townhomes are coming to West Poplar, a neighborhood north of Center City Philadelphia. This project will help preserve affordable workforce housing as the city’s current boom in high-end residential development continues edging into affordable neighborhoods. Prices in West Poplar have already risen 23% over the last five years.

To purchase one of these homes, buyers must be low- to moderate-income, and sale prices will be capped at $230,000–a price that is generally affordable at 80% of area median income, and well below the $390,000 median sale price for the neighborhood.

Impact investors can support projects like West Poplar Homes by making an investment through the PhilaImpact Fund, a partnership with The Philadelphia Foundation that offers an opportunity for investors to channel their capital into neighborhood development projects that support regional growth and local initiatives in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties. Learn more.

Baltimore Sobering Center

Reinvestment Fund is financing the redevelopment of the historic Hebrew Orphans Asylum building in West Baltimore into a Sobering Center for patients suffering from behavioral and mental health issues, and acute addiction crises. The project is being developed by Coppin Heights Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit established by local HBCU, Coppin State University. Read more.

20 Years of Investment in Education

Over the last 20 years, Reinvestment Fund has invested in educational opportunity for students across the country. We have made $550 million in loans to 162 K-12 schools that enroll over 65,000 students; 85% of students enrolled at schools we’ve financed in the last four years qualify for free and reduced price lunch, and all reside in districts that are underperforming.

Last year, Reinvestment Fund financed the Vicksburg-Warren School District’s renovation and expansion of Vicksburg High School (VHS) in Mississippi. In 2013, the District had a graduation rate of just 52% and had not made major capital investments in its schools since 1969. This project will transform VHS and enable it to offer a first-class learning facility for students in this rural community.

VHS suffers from deferred maintenance, including outdated mechanical and electrical systems, leaky roofs, ADA noncompliance, and overcrowded classrooms. The upgraded school facilities will further the District’s goal to make all students college and career ready, which also includes a redesigned curriculum, increased academic rigor, vocational career training, and evidence-based, social-emotional learning practices. In this project, we are partners with Hope Enterprise.

HEALTH.EQUITY.CAPITAL

Invest Health has been an ambitious and unique initiative to change systems and demonstrate results in the built environments of 50 midsize cities. An independent evaluation—reviewed at our national convening in Atlanta—found that the initiative made significant progress toward many of its goals and had several unanticipated positive results as well.

Read the Invest Health Evaluation Report | Health.Equity.Capital Plenary Session Videos

GoATL Fund Invests $1 Million in Reinvestment Fund

GoATL Fund, an impact investment fund launched by the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, recently closed a new $1 million impact investment to Reinvestment Fund. This investment will support a diverse portfolio of loans that increase access to healthy, safe housing for Atlanta families, new schools for 21st century learners, more equitable access to living-wage careers, and more.

Since 2014, Reinvestment Fund has invested $30 million throughout greater Atlanta, creating or preserving 200 early childhood education slots, supporting over 1,000 jobs and creating or preserving nearly 300 housing units. GoATL’s investment provides Reinvestment Fund with both cost-effective capital to accelerate its work as well as a connection to a valuable local partner with deep roots in the community.

Research and Capital Funding Support Early Childhood Expansion in Washington, DC

A new analysis commissioned by the Bainum Family Foundation and conducted by Reinvestment Fund’s Policy Solutions team provides the first comprehensive look at early learning capacity and quality in the District of Columbia.

The findings, available online through the Early Childhood Map DC allows you to explore the supply of and demand for early learning seats across the District. It provides valuable insights for providers, funders, policymakers, advocates, parents and others engaged in early childhood education in the District, helping to answer critical questions such as:

• Where should I locate my new early learning center to meet the greatest need?
• Where should we target our investments in high-quality early learning?
• Where are the high-quality early learning centers near where I work or live?

House of Ruth is a nonprofit serving women and children striving to overcome trauma, domestic violence, and homelessness. It also operates as an early childhood education provider that is the first to receive a loan through our Early Learning Quality Fund, also funded by the Bainum Family Foundation. ELQF seeks to expand access to high-quality early learning seats for infants and toddlers in Wards 7 and 8 in Washington, DC.

Since 1990, House of Ruth has provided a nationally accredited child development center for children ages six weeks through five years who are living at its residences and for homeless children living in the community. The organization’s educators and therapists assess children’s needs and provide speech, occupational, and play therapy; many of the children have developmental delays, and about one-third have special needs.

Staff and Board Update

• Tracy Murray Moore joins Reinvestment Fund as Chief Human Resources Officer. Ms. Murray Moore has over 20 years’ experience as a human resources professional in diverse corporate settings. She comes to Reinvestment Fund after several years as an HR leader and consultant, supporting and developing progressive HR strategies, programs and practices. She also brings expertise in leadership coaching, most recently working as a consultant for Comcast’s Freedom Region. Ms. Murray Moore serves on the Board of Directors for Heart 2 Heart Services and is a published author. She is a Society of Human Resources Management Senior Certified Professional, a Certified Professional Coach, and holds a Masters in General Management/Health Administration from the University of Maryland, University College.

Reinvestment Fund is also pleased to welcome our new board members:

• Marland Buckner serves as co-founder and principal of MB2 Solutions LLC, a social impact focused public affairs firm with offices in Washington, DC, and Richmond, VA. Buckner previously served  as Director of Federal Government Affairs for Microsoft Corporation in Washington, DC, where he worked closely with senior leadership and executive staff to integrate Microsoft’s philanthropic, policy, and political efforts. Buckner has served as a policy analyst at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and the Progressive Policy Institute, and his writings have appeared in a variety of publications, and he frequently serves as a commentator and panelist on policy and political issues. Buckner completed his doctoral examinations at the College of William and Mary and holds a certificate in Business Administration from Georgetown University.
• Michael Davis is an alumnus of The Broad Residency in Urban Education. He is currently the Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Partnerships for Sheltering Arms, an early childhood education organization operating 15 sites in the Atlanta metro area. Davis also founded and operates The Davis Collaborative, an education business consultancy enabling clients to scale their businesses and accomplish their strategic priorities. Previously, he served as Chief of Staff for Fulton County Schools and has held various leadership positions with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, including special assistant to the superintendent, where he provided counsel on education policy and national education reform initiatives. Davis is a graduate of Fordham University School of Law and Morehouse College.
• Vicki Lundy Wilbon is a principal and executive vice president with The Integral, an Atlanta-based real estate development and investment management firm. In this capacity, she has played a significant role in developing corporate policy and driving execution. As president of Integral’s community development division, Wilbon has spearheaded some of the nation’s most successful and transformative residential and mixed-use re-development initiatives. Under her leadership, Integral’s multi-family development portfolio has amassed an aggregate total development cost of over $592 million. Wilbon is a graduate of Purdue University, a Certified Commercial Investment Member, and serves on the board of the Georgia Women’s Affordable Housing Network.