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In This Issue
Welcome
Welcome to the IFF newsletter!
This month’s newsletter celebrates the one-year anniversary of IFF’s Wisconsin office. Thanks to all of our Wisconsin customers and partners who have helped make the office such a success. IFF began working in Wisconsin in late 2007, and we quickly established an on-the-ground presence. To date, IFF has provided nearly $13.2 million in affordable financing to 21 nonprofits in the state and real estate consulting to 11 Wisconsin organizations. This newsletter features five of our Wisconsin customers: the Center for Veterans Issues, HOPE Christian Schools, the River Revitalization Foundation, Milwaukee College Preparatory School, and Housing Resources, Inc.
In this newsletter, IFF also continues its series of podcasts exploring what green design means for nonprofits. In the current installment, David Reynolds, IFF’s Vice President of Real Estate Services answers the question “Why Would a Nonprofit Want a Green Building?”
Now, you can keep up with the latest CDFI news and updates in our five-state region. Follow IFF on Twitter @IFFcdfi.
Veterans Manor
On any given night 107,000 veterans are homeless. The rate of homelessness among veterans is 2.5 times that of the general population. The Center for Veterans Issues (CVI) is combating the problem by providing vital services to Milwaukee veterans who are at risk of becoming homeless. Central to its work is providing transitional and affordable housing. This year, CVI will partner with Cardinal Capital Management to build Veterans Manor, a 60,000 square-foot affordable housing development.
IFF has supported the project by funding predevelopment, construction, and permanent financing costs with two loans totaling $2 million. Veterans Manor will include 52 apartments that will be affordable at 60 percent of area median income. The building will include a fitness center, a library, community dining, and other amenities; units will feature ovens and refrigerators. Its geographical location will also offer easy access to a nearby VA hospital.
HOPE Christian Schools
HOPE Christian Schools opened in 2002 with only 50 students and has since grown to serve more than 700 children in grades K4-12. HOPE’s newest campus, Fortis, provides a college preparatory education to Milwaukee’s highest risk youth.
Fortis is housed in a newly constructed 14,500 square-foot facility with 10 classrooms and administrative and office space. IFF’s $1.5 million loan—combined with a loan from PAVE, a Milwaukee advocate for education—helped the school increase its total capacity to 240 students. Fortis receives most of its revenue from vouchers through the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP). This expansion will provide new educational opportunities for children who otherwise might have never received them and provides an anchor in an underinvested Milwaukee neighborhood. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured HOPE Christian Schools in its February 8 article “HOPE Christian schools quietly go about business of teaching.”
Melanec's Wheelhouse
The Wheelhouse Restaurant, a restaurant and dinner theater located near the Milwaukee River, closed in 2005. Even though the Melanec’s Wheelhouse property is surrounded by dense neighborhoods, it has remained vacant since then.
Over the last year, IFF has worked with the River Revitalization Foundation (RRF), a nonprofit conservation organization, to turn the Melanec Wheelhouse into an urban riverfront park that can be used for fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and watching wildlife. The park will also provide interactive learning opportunities for low-income children to learn about river conservation. IFF provided $300,000 in gap financing to supplement $1.1 million collectively contributed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Metropolitan Milwaukee Sewage District.
On April 26, the River Revitalization Foundation held the Wheelhouse campaign kick-off and reception to celebrate Earth Day and Conservation in the City. It was attended by Secretary Matt Frank of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and others involved in the project, including Lanie Wasserman, IFF’s Wisconsin Director. Read more about the project in last year’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article, “Funding sought to turn Melanec’s Wheelhouse site into riverfront park.”
Milwaukee College Preparatory School
Known throughout Milwaukee for its academic success, Milwaukee College Preparatory School (MCPS) has seen the demand for its college preparatory education grow and, in the last round of admissions, could admit only 20 percent of applicants to its K4-8 program. When MCPS decided it was time to add a new campus, the school hired IFF’s real estate consulting division to assist them in identifying and securing a new home for the school. IFF helped MCPS push forward with their plans. IFF assessed the market in MCPS’s target area, evaluated the organization’s financial capacity, and ultimately helped the school to determine the best option for its new home. IFF is currently assisting the school with acquisition of a property just a few blocks away, which will allow MCPS to double its enrollment from 480 to 960 students.
Housing Resources, Inc.
While owning a home can be a gratifying and important means of building wealth, the recent financial crisis demonstrated that not all home mortgages are the same.
Housing Resources, Inc. (HRI) helps homebuyers make sound financial decisions by providing education and counseling to low to moderate income individuals in Racine and Milwaukee.
As the market deteriorated and joblessness increased, the demand for financial counseling to help families avoid foreclosure grew significantly. With the increased demand for service, HRI outgrew its leased office space and obtained an IFF loan to acquire a much larger permanent home.
The new building lies within 5-7 miles of 70 percent of HRI’s clients. As a NeighborWorks® Organization, HRI received a $50,000 capital grant to renovate the building which has 16 offices. This year, HRI was nominated for a Milwaukee Award for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI) by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and was the recipient of the Wisconsin Fair Housing Network’s Organization Award.
Policy: Report on Denver Public Schools
On February 20, the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) and IFF released Locating Quality and Access, a report on performing schools in the Denver Public School system. The report found that more than half of Denver’s children today do not have access to a performing school in the Denver Public School System and that 60 percent of the need for a performing school is concentrated in just three areas of the city. The study was featured in the INDenverTimes article “Surprising findings in DPS study.” NACSA Vice President William Haft summarized the findings: “There are 20,000 elementary students in the Denver Public Schools system who [...] don’t have a performing elementary school to go to […] That’s pretty dramatic.”
Policy: A Responsible Budget for Illinois
In May, the Illinois General Assembly is scheduled to vote on the 2011 budget, and there is a tremendous amount at stake for the nonprofit sector. Illinois faces a $13 billion budget gap that cannot be fully addressed by reductions in current spending. New sources of revenue are required, or nonprofits that provide services for the state will face deep cuts to program funding and even later disbursements by the state. At risk is funding for Pre-K, K-12 education, and all human services. Please contact your state representatives and senators and ask them to support the Governor’s surcharge for education or HB 174. For more information on what your organization can do, contact the Responsible Budget Coalition or Illinois Partners for Human Service.
Technical Assistance: Reasons to Build Green
IFF continues its series of Technical Assistance Worksheets and Podcasts exploring what green design means for nonprofits. This month, David Reynolds, Vice President of Real Estate Services, will answer “Why Would a Nonprofit Want a Green Building?”
If you have questions about green design, or any of IFF’s Real Estate Consulting Services, please contact David Reynolds at 312 596 5102 or dreynolds@iff.org.
