Forward Community Investments: Flurry of December loans made 2014 FCI’s biggest lending year ever

Contact: Bob Jacobson, 608-204-8833

bobj@forwardci.org

Demand for Impact Investing Grows as Community Challenges Multiply

Forward Community Investments (FCI) announced today that the 11 loans it finalized in December, totaling $3.8 million, brought the organization’s 2014 lending total to more than $15 million. That made 2014 the biggest lending year in FCI’s 20-year history. FCI also closed an additional $10 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) transactions in 2014. Since its creation in 1994, FCI has made more than $53 million in loans statewide for community projects, along with its NMTC transactions.

“The funds we have available to lend are now fully deployed,” said FCI President Salli Martyniak. “That’s both good and bad news. We’re pleased to see our resources being put to work transforming Wisconsin communities. But this also reflects the fact that the need for community investment is greater than ever. Neighborhoods across the state are facing immense challenges as they strive toward social and economic health.”

Martyniak noted that FCI offers Wisconsin residents an opportunity to invest in their communities’ most pressing needs, generating a social return on their investment to go along with a financial return of up to 2%. “In order to continue growing and continue investing in projects that are making a difference, we need more people to learn about us and what we do,” Martyniak said. “We believe there are a lot of people and organizations out there who would love to invest in FCI if they were aware of this option.”

“The need for community financing is growing; we hope more investors will see us as a conduit for putting their money to work in support of what they value-equity, opportunity, and a healthy, sustainable Wisconsin.”

The wave of December loans included:

* S. Price Real Estate to build and renovate the healthy foods kitchen and four classrooms operated by Jo’s Learning Academy on North Avenue in Milwaukee.

* Wisconsin Partnership for Housing Development to purchase two houses-one in Madison and one in Menomonie. Two service providers, SOAR Case Management Services and Grassroots Empowerment Project, will lease the homes and operate peer-supported respite centers for individuals who experience mental illness.

* Partnership Community Health Center to purchase equipment and tenant improvements for a new comprehensive oral health care clinic that will serve medically underserved populations in and around Oshkosh. This new dental site will provide preventive, restorative, and ongoing care with the ultimate goal of creating a dental home linked to primary medical care.

* United Methodist Children’s Services for a 24-unit development that will provide affordable housing in central Milwaukee. This is the third phase of a 70-unit supportive housing campus in the Washington Park neighborhood, a severely distressed area with a poverty rate of 39%, 13.6% unemployment, and median household income of just $28,800 per year.

* FCI provided $5 million in New Markets Tax Credits for St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care’s new $19 million facility in Milwaukee. The new campus will provide adult daycare services, Alzheimer’s and dementia care, child daycare, overnight respite care and outpatient rehab and community-based healthcare, including a medical clinic, dental clinic, wellness program and classrooms, as well as an indoor lap pool and intergenerational playground.

* River to Valley, Inc. to buy and rehab six homes in Prairie du Chien and Platteville, two of which will be leased to agencies that will provide supportive housing services for up to 12 individuals.

* Incourage Community Foundation renewed their loan for the purchase of the historic Daily Tribune Building in Wisconsin Rapids. This is part of a larger community-driven project that will eventually utilize FCI’s New Markets Tax Credits to redevelop the building into a centrally located social enterprise whose uses-ranging from a microbrewery and cafe to a culinary kitchen and more-are being determined by residents.

In addition to these loans, several other existing loans were renewed or refinanced in December, including loans to Goodman Community Center (Dane County), Central Wisconsin Community Action Council (Adams, Columbia, Dodge, Juneau, Sauk, and Waushara Counties), Community First (Milwaukee County), and West Central Wisconsin Community Action Agency (Barron, Chippewa, Dunn, Pepin, Pierce, Polk, and St. Croix Counties).

Currently in the midst of a year-long celebration of its 20th birthday, FCI is experiencing a period of significant growth. Earlier this year, FCI revised its vision and mission statements to reflect a greater emphasis on supporting organizations working to achieve social, racial, and economic equity. In June, FCI received word from the U.S. Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund that it had been awarded an allocation of $20 million in New Markets Tax Credits–a powerful tool for financing community development projects in low-income neighborhoods.

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Forward Community Investments (FCI) is a statewide Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) based in Madison, Wisconsin. For 20 years, FCI has provided the tools organizations and investors need to connect their communities to a just, equitable, and sustainable future. Since 1994, FCI has provided loans totaling over $50 million for projects across the state. For more information about FCI, visit http://www.forwardci.org.