Iowa: Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity

Greater Des Moines Habitat for Humanity constructs homes in partnership with families earning 30-50 percent of Median Family Income, as well as sells new and gently-used home improvement materials to the public at discount prices via its Habitat ReStore retail outlet. Habitat homes are made possible by grants and other funding along with in-kind labor and supply contributions. This allows Habitat to sell the homes for the cost of land and building materials and offer zero interest mortgages to the homeowners.

Greater Des Moines Habitat recently approached IFF for a loan to consolidate retail, construction and office space and provide additional warehouse space for building materials. The IFF loan of $1.5 million will help to acquire and renovate Habitat's new facility, originally built for a building materials business, located on East Euclid in Des Moines.

Over the next five years, the acquisition, retrofit and renovation are intended to support an 80 percent increase in Habitat operations, 200 percent growth in neighborhood revitalization efforts, and 30 percent growth in homeownership units developed.

Illinois: Loaves and Fishes

Loaves and Fishes Community Pantry (LFCP) provides food and other life essentials to residents of Naperville, Illinois as well as limited service throughout DuPage County.  LFCP is the only public food pantry in Naperville and the largest single pantry site in Northern Illinois. 

The agency provides services to more than 8,000 individuals each year. Eighty three percent of LFCP clients have low or moderate income, and approximately 50 percent of those served are children under the age of 18.  Along with LFCP staff, 300 volunteers support the pantry's efforts.

IFF provided a new construction loan to build a distribution center, warehouse and offices on land owned by Loaves and Fishes. The design allows for expanded food distribution hours, increased parking, and greater capacity to accept bulk shipments of food, along with substantially increased cooler space for fresh and frozen products. It will also include a loading dock and a 50-space parking lot.

Missouri: Gateway Greening

Gateway Greening, Inc. provides a variety of health and sustainability programming to thousands of people each year. Gateway's important work includes providing gardening and healthy food education to children, providing technical assistance in urban neighborhoods for the development of community gardens, and operating a vegetable farm that also serves to train and employ people who are homeless.

Gateway Greening recently sought to increase its financial stability by acquiring a permanent home for the organization, but had to act quickly to do so. In response, IFF provided Gateway with an acquisition loan for two commercial condominiums, including one that the agency rents for office space at 2211 Washington Avenue in St. Louis.
 
“We had a great opportunity to purchase the office condo space we had occupied for over three years, but had real time constraints in doing it.  IFF worked with us to meet our deadlines," said Loura Gilbert, chair of GGI's board of directors.

"A conventional lender would not have been able to put the deal together so quickly.  The entire IFF staff was focused on helping us to achieve our goal and keeping our financing costs as low as possible.”

Wisconsin: Community Advocates

On February 14, IFF joined Community Advocates (CA) in celebrating the opening of their new facility at 728 N. James Lovell in Milwaukee. IFF partnered with Town Bank on the financing and provided a $1 million subordinate mortgage loan to acquire and renovate the facility.

At the event, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett proclaimed February 14, 2011 Community Advocates Day in celebration of the agency's 35 years of service improving the lives of the homeless and mentally ill. The new building is a symbol of CA's growth over the years and will serve as a one-stop shop for clients to access a range of services, including case management, housing assistance, and counseling. 

The new building also provides the additional space CA needed after merging with two domestic violence shelters and an agency supporting ex-offender re-entry. 

Policy: U.S. Treasury Department's CDFI Fund

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to cut this year’s appropriation for the CDFI Fund by 80 percent, from $250 million to $50 million.  We believe this reduction is a mistake.  Studies have shown that the CDFI Fund leverages between $19 and $27 for each dollar it invests, and that its investments generate tens of thousands of jobs annually.  Moreover, CDFIs have become an even more important source of affordable financing since the financial crisis hit in 2008.  Cutting the CDFI Fund now will severely restrict the ability of CDFIs to grow and meet the ongoing capital needs of low-income communities.

For more information on these cuts to the CDFI Fund, click here.

Policy: Illinois SB 3 - Paying Providers for Contracted Services

Illinois Senate Bill 3 (SB 3) is a debt restructuring plan that would authorize the State of Illinois to issue $8.75 billion in bonds and use the proceeds of those bonds to immediately pay all bills to nonprofit service providers (and other vendors) that are at least 60 days past due.  The bonds would be repaid by revenues from the recently enacted income tax increase, and – because the interest on the bonds would be less than the interest penalty resulting from late payments – the state would actually save money.

For more information on SB 3, click here.