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The initiative has awarded over $620,000 in grants in the last two years to advance community-driven solutions to historic food injustice

The Philadelphia Department of Public Health and the Reinvestment Fund have awarded more than $443,500 to fund several innovative initiatives to create more healthy food options. This is part of an effort to find and fund community-driven solutions to historic food injustice.

The Health Department’s Division of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention and the Reinvestment Fund announced nine new awards as part of the Philadelphia Food Justice Initiative (PFJI). In total, the initiative has provided over $620,000 in grants over two rounds since its launch in 2019.

We continue to see the deadly results of white supremacy in America. Greater Atlanta was the site of a horrific set of racially-motivated murders – hate crimes aimed mainly at Asian American women and their co-workers. Eight are dead. A 21-year-old white male with a gun is in custody.

Our hearts go out to those affected by this violence and the Asian American community. The rise in anti-Asian violence is heartbreaking and unacceptable. Asians have faced a rise in hate crimes since the onset of the pandemic. Major U.S. cities have reported triple digit surges in hate crimes against Asians.

Reinvestment Fund has been selected by ImpactAssets to the ImpactAssets 50 2021 (IA 50), a free online database for impact investors, family offices, financial advisors and institutional investors that features a diversified listing of private capital fund managers delivering social and environmental impact as well as financial returns.

“We are honored to be recognized with so many of our peers in the CDFI industry as part of the IA 50,” shared Don Hinkle-Brown, President and CEO of Reinvestment Fund. “Thank you to ImpactAssets for shining a light on the work of CDFIs and the vital role they play in our financing ecosystem.”

This year marks the tenth edition of the IA 50, and despite a tumultuous year, total assets under management (AUM) among selected fund managers jumped to a record $228 billion in 2020, up from $181 billion in 2019. Thirteen managers selected in this year’s showcase reported assets exceeding $1 billion. By comparison, in the IA 50’s inaugural year, assets totaled just $6.8 billion.

2020 was a challenging and full year. For Reinvestment Fund, the year included launching relief programs to respond to the economic hardships resulting from the pandemic. We leaned in as a dependable financing partner to help impactful projects stay on track and we continued to explore research-driven solutions for pressing policy issues, particularly around eviction. As our nation continues to grapple with the health, social and economic impacts of the pandemic, we are grateful for the collaborations and support that have been crucial to helping people and places in need. We closed 2020 with $205 million in community investments.

In the Philadelphia region, we provided $6.7 million in grants to 416 providers to minimize the loss of capacity and expertise in the early childhood education sector so that children and families continue to have access to quality early learning opportunities once this crisis has passed.

New Report from Urban Institute and Reinvestment Fund offers cross-cutting lessons to improve community investment systems

Urban Institute today released Making Community Development Capital Work in Small and Midsize Cities, a report in partnership with Reinvestment Fund, that explores the challenges many small and midsize cities face in attracting and sustaining community investment capital, as well as the opportunities that their size provides.

Small and midsize cities in the aggregate are falling behind their larger peers in attracting and receiving community development investments. Diminished access to capital for investments that bolster positive, local social determinants of health in small and midsize cities coincides with the economic and social trends that affect these localities.

Award caps $30,000 in employee-led charitable contributions in 2020

Reinvestment Fund today announced two nonprofits as the winners of its annual Community Champion Award: 215 People’s Alliance and Tenant Union Representative Network (TURN). Based in Philadelphia, both organizations have been very active in COVID response and are particularly aligned with Reinvestment Fund’s own efforts around food justice and reforms to reduce evictions.

“At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has upended lives in so many ways, 215 People’s Alliance and Tenant Union Representative Network have been extraordinary in their efforts to support families and communities,” said Amanda High, Reinvestment Fund’s Chief of Strategic Initiatives. “We are delighted to honor these organizations with this award and to shine a light on their outstanding work.”

Reinvestment Fund is among the 150 newly selected winners of Real Leaders 2021 “Top Impact Companies” from around the world. The Impact Awards is a global ranking of companies whose products or services address social or environmental challenges.

“We are honored to be among some of today’s leaders in making a positive difference,” said Don Hinkle-Brown, President and CEO of Reinvestment Fund. “Our long-term focus on ensuring that people in all communities have the opportunities they strive for has been a huge part of achieving this award”.

The 2021 award winners include game-changers such as: Tesla, Beyond Meat, Patagonia and 147 other well-respected impact brands of all sizes and from a variety of industries. Winners are selected through a rigorous process that considers how companies are solving business problems in socially constructive ways.

Our nation witnessed terror as a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the validation of the 2020 presidential election on January 6th. Our beautiful Capitol building and the democratic process did not instill awe or respect as it should. Instead we saw the crowd bring vandalism, Confederate flags, weapons and violence. The act was shameful and unpatriotic.

We urge lawmakers and law enforcement authorities to hold accountable those who participated in and incited this violence.

The events also underscored what is hard to ignore. First, that ground was ceded to this illegal and violent mob over and over. Contrast that with the unarmed peaceful BLM protests this summer that were met with near constant police and military violence. Second, we saw ample video evidence that some of the security forces were welcoming of and embracing the mob, restrained in the use of force. White privilege, bigotry and institutional racism were on full display.

Reinvestment Fund announced that it has received a major gift from philanthropist Mackenzie Scott. Reinvestment Fund is among 384 organizations who received a total of $4.2 billion today as part of Ms. Scott’s giving to organizations working to alleviate suffering for those hardest hit by the pandemic. The award is the largest individual gift in the organization’s 35+ year history and will help advance the organization’s work to build strong, healthy and equitable communities nationwide.

“We are immensely grateful for and humbled by this extraordinary gift from Ms. Scott,” said Don Hinkle-Brown, President and CEO of Reinvestment Fund. “It is a recognition of not just our work, but that organizations like us who are at the forefront of expanding economic prosperity for all Americans, have effective plans that are idled or unscaled by a shortage of unrestricted funding such as this. Ms. Scott has shown a trust and confidence in community development practitioners that is rare in today’s more prescriptive and restricted philanthropy.”

Philadelphia, December 15, 2020— Reinvestment Fund announced the launch of Building Healthier, More Equitable Communities (BHEC) today, a health and community development focused initiative that will work with cross-sector collaborative teams in four cities in New Jersey to advance equity and wellbeing in targeted neighborhoods. BHEC will support partnerships in Asbury Park, Camden, Newark, and Paterson.

BHEC aims to address the social determinants of health through changes to the built environment and the community investment system in selected New Jersey cities, while acknowledging the unique challenges stemming from the current health and economic crisis.