Impact Investments Totaling $2.5M Will Expand Affordable Housing and Small Businesses in Northeast Florida

 
The Community Foundation’s Local Capital Pool will provide three low-cost loans using charitable funds | JACKSONVILLE, FL – September 12, 2024 – The Community Foundation is investing $2.5 million to expand affordable housing and small businesses in Northeast Florida.
Ability Housing, Community Solutions, and the Black Business Investment Fund will receive low-cost loans from the Local Capital Pool to further their work on housing and small business growth.

“The Community Foundation established the Local Capital Pool in 2021 in response to our donors’ interest in making an impact in the community beyond grantmaking,” said Isaiah M. Oliver, President of The Community Foundation. “We are proud to expand impact investing in Northeast Florida, putting capital to work again and again to tackle some of our toughest problems.”

The Local Capital Pool launched with $7.4 million of capital provided by The Community Foundation’s donors. A total of $3.8 million has been invested to date, including these loans.

Ability Housing will receive a $500,000 loan providing critical gap financing for the redevelopment of Lake Forest Elementary School into affordable multifamily housing that will also include units designated specifically for Duval County Public Schools personnel.

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Ability Housing is a nationally recognized industry leader that serves thousands of Floridians providing quality multifamily housing that is affordable to low and middle-income households, as well as onsite support services for adults with a disability and those needing support to ensure housing stability.

“We are grateful to the Community Foundation for being leaders in this innovative approach to investment in increasing affordable housing in our community,” said Shannon Nazworth, President & CEO of Ability Housing. “In many ways, the Lake Forest redevelopment is a pioneering project for Jacksonville, and we are excited to bring this new development to the neighborhood.”

In addition, Community Solutions will receive a $1 million loan to support the rehabilitation of 133 units in two multifamily properties to serve local veterans experiencing homelessness – the Caroline Village, purchased in 2022, and Villager Apartments, purchased in 2023, both in the Arlington neighborhood.

Launched in 2011, Community Solutions is a national nonprofit organization that leads Built for Zero, a movement of more than 100 cities and counties working to prove it is possible to make homelessness rare and brief. In 2021, they received a $100 million grant from the Macarthur Foundation to accelerate an end to homelessness in the United States. Locally, Community Solutions is partnering with the Northeast Florida Continuum of Care, a collaborative that spans Clay, Duval, and Nassau. The loan will help rehabilitate the Arlington properties into safe, affordable units that will house local veterans experiencing homelessness.

“As a military community, Northeast Florida has shown tremendous commitment to veterans housing,” said David Foster, Manager of the Community Solutions

Large Cities Housing Fund. “We are grateful to partner with The Community Foundation on the financing needed to bring our Arlington properties to the standard we expect for people who served our country.”

The Black Business Investment Fund (BBIF) will receive a $1 million loan to support the organization’s small business lending in Northeast Florida. This investment will allow BBIF to establish a dedicated capital source for the region, and reach an additional 80 small businesses with low-cost loan products, helping them grow, create and retain jobs, and build wealth in the Black community.

Headquartered in Orlando with offices in Jacksonville, Tampa and Miami, BBIF is a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) that has been providing flexible capital and financial technical assistance to Black- and minority‐owned businesses in Florida for over 37 years. Since its inception, BBIF has made over 1,105 loans to small businesses totaling over $77 million, helping to create and retain more than 14,000 jobs.

“Northeast Florida has a rich history of African-American entrepreneurship, from LaVilla, known as the Harlem of the South, to the African-American Life Insurance Company co-founded by Mr. A.L. Lewis in 1901,” said Oraine Reid, Interim Co-President/CEO, BBIF. “We’re excited to partner with The Community Foundation to bring much needed capital to small BIPOC and underserved businesses in the Jacksonville community.”

About The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida
The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida (www.jaxcf.org), Florida’s oldest and one of its largest community foundations, works to stimulate philanthropy to build a better community. The Foundation helps donors invest their philanthropic gifts wisely, helps nonprofits serve the region effectively, and helps people come together to make the community a better place. Now in its 60th year, the Foundation manages more than $650 million in assets as of 12/31/2023 and has made more than $750 million in grants since inception.

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