News

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

William Penn Foundation, Vanguard, and Reinvestment Fund today announced a collaboration to support Philadelphia childcare providers who are struggling to sustain their businesses through closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. A $5 million grant from William Penn Foundation and a $2 million grant from Vanguard’s Strong Start for Kids Program will launch the Philadelphia Emergency Fund for Stabilization of Early Education (PEFSEE), which will help Philadelphia continue its important progress in ensuring access to high quality early learning.

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.

As of March 16, 2020, all Reinvestment Fund employees will be working remotely. During this time, all services will be available and employees will be accessible through their direct lines or via email during business hours of 9 am to 5 pm EST.

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.

Reinvestment Fund has protocols in place for the continuity of operations that take into consideration a fully remote workforce. We have consistently invested in information systems and productivity tools that enable our employees to work and conduct business from anywhere. Our business application infrastructure is fully virtualized and redundant, meaning that the loss of a single physical component does not disrupt service or access to applications needed for operations.

In the coming days, we will be activating a 100% remote policy for all employees to give staff the flexibility they need to care for themselves and loved ones. Throughout, we will continue to partner with stakeholders across the country who are working hard to bring their projects to successful fruition. We have an active pipeline of projects and are fully prepared to continue to close new loans in support of high-impact projects over the next several weeks.

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.

GoATL’s investment will help Reinvestment Fund expand its lending to support social outcomes in education, job creation and housing.

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.

Oversimplified CRA metrics would damage local responsiveness and lessen social impact

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 Community Champion Award is a small grants program that recognizes nonprofit organizations that are aligned with Reinvestment Fund’s own mission. Awardees are selected by an appointed staff committee that makes its selection from a pool of organizations nominated by staff. The selection is approved by Reinvestment Fund’s Community Advisory Board. In most instances, the organizations have volunteers that are Reinvestment Fund staff or another existing relationship. In this case, the history goes back decades. Reinvestment Fund was incubated at Bread & Roses before spinning off in 1985.

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).

“First Step is doing the critical work of providing economic opportunity for individuals facing challenges to employment and stability,” said Christina Szczepanski, Managing Director for the Southeast at Reinvestment Fund. “We are pleased to be able to support the sustainability and growth of this nonprofit enterprise whose efforts so closely align with our own mission to create stronger, more equitable communities.”

First Step Staffing, Inc., (FSS) is an Atlanta-based staffing agency that finds temporary employment in factories, distribution centers and hospitality businesses for men and women with significant barriers to workforce entry and re-entry. Most of FSS’s clients have recently experienced either homelessness or incarceration. Many are veterans who have faced difficulties readjusting to civilian life.

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.