2012 Awardees

Clearinghouse CDFI

NEXT Opportunity Award $2 MM Awardee

Based in California and expanding into Nevada, Clearinghouse CDFI finances affordable housing, nonprofit organizations, and community redevelopment projects. Clearinghouse CDFI received the Award for its expansion into Nevada, a state that faces severe credit constraints and suffers from one of the highest unemployment rates, and single-family foreclosure rates in the U.S. Clearinghouse plans through expanding into Nevada to create approximately 100 jobs per year, produce 700 affordable housing units and serve 40,000 low-income individuals in Nevada over a three-year period

Today, Nevada’s unemployment rate is 12.3%, the highest in the country. For the past five years it has had the highest national single-family foreclosure rates. And, as a result of bank closures and credit constricting, financing options are scarce. After conducting community meetings and talking with Nevadan businesses, non-profits, and government leaders, Clearinghouse realized it could play a unique role in bolstering the lending capacities of regional lenders and helping to reduce unemployment throughout the state. In 2012, the California-headquartered CDFI opened an office in Las Vegas to fill severe lending gaps in the area.

From the time it incorporated in 1996 in Orange County, Clearinghouse’s priority has been addressing unmet credit needs. It supports projects—schools to community centers, small businesses to affordable housing—with the greatest potential for community impact. Says Doug, “We’ve always looked at how a project will benefit its community and whether other resources are available. If other lenders can make the loan, we simply stay away.”

Having already established a presence in the Silver State, Clearinghouse plans to increase lending in Nevada by leveraging its NEXT Award to raise new capital. The award will also support operating expenses, project pipeline development, and training and capacity building for state-based non-profits. Over the next three years, it expects to create and/or retain 100 jobs, develop 700 affordable housing units, and serve 40,000 low-income individuals in distressed areas, bringing new opportunities—and hope—to an area needing both.

+ Read More About Clearinghouse CDFI

+ Read an interview with Clearinghouse CDFI's Doug Bystry

+ Visit http://www.clearinghousecdfi.com

Corporation For Supportive Housing

NEXT Opportunity Award $2 MM Awardee

Corporation for Supportive Housing (CSH) provides financing and related services to help communities transform how they address homelessness and improve the lives of very vulnerable people. Corporation for Supportive Housing received the Award for its plan to increase the development of supportive housing across the country. CSH plans to expand into an additional 10 large, underserved markets, adding 11,500 new housing units and providing a replicable model for other CDFIs.

Over the past two decades, the CDFI has led the movement to make this integration the solution to ending chronic homelessness in and around New York City. Today, a combination of forces have come together to help CSH, the only national CDFI dedicated exclusively to supportive housing financing and development, expand its services into more communities across the U.S.

At a time when federal funding for affordable housing is decreasing, states are responding to a landmark 1999 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires them to provide community-based services to people with disabilities. At the same time, these states are looking for ways to end chronic homelessness. This creates a perfect storm of opportunity for CSH, which, as a lender, technical assistance provider, and public policy advocate, has supported projects and policies that work to end and prevent homelessness for the past 20 years.

Says De Santis, ““Many recent factors, including the Supreme Court’s Olmstead decision, are pushing communities to create more affordable housing opportunities for low-income and very vulnerable people. Among those opportunities is supportive housing. Because CSH has led the supportive housing field for over two decades, we are uniquely positioned to offer expertise, experience, and capital to help these communities.”

With its NEXT Award, CSH will bring its expertise and expand its lending program into parts of the country where it’s identified great need and opportunities, including Georgia, Florida, and Arizona. In doing so, CSH projects it will create approximately 10,000 supportive and affordable housing units—giving more vulnerable individuals and families the opportunity to stay housed and healthy.

+ Visit http://www.csh.org

Opportunity Fund

NEXT Seed Capital Award $100,000 Awardee

Opportunity Fund is California’s largest non-profit microlender supporting small businesses and is one of the largest microlenders in the nation. It has made more than 2,370 small business loans totaling more than $25.8 million. Opportunity Fund created and test-marketed their innovative EasyPay loan product with 30 small businesses in Greater Los Angeles. It will use the NEXT Seed Capital Award to expand the program to the San Francisco Bay Area, and throughout California.

+ Read More About Opportunity Fund

+ Visit http://www.opportunityfund.org

Primary Care Development Corporation

NEXT Opportunity Award $4.25 MM Awardee

The Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC) provides affordable capital and technical assistance to community healthcare organizations, and shapes public policies that invest in primary care to strengthen and expand primary care in distressed markets. PCDC plans to expand its capital investment beyond New York State to underserved areas across the U.S. With the award, PCDC plans to create 190 construction jobs, 285 permanent jobs, and expand patient capacity by 175,000 visits over three years.

Today, 60 million Americans lack access to primary care. Chronic illness rates in low-income communities are three to four times those in higher income areas. And health care costs are skyrocketing, in part the result of hospitalizations that, with the right care, are completely avoidable. The ACA recognizes community health care centers as the solution to these inequities and a way to reduce the costs of our current health care system. It’s putting billions toward its goal of doubling capacity within the next three years. Yet the amount is just a fraction of the cost needed. This gap in capital creates an historic opportunity for PCDC.

Since 1993, PCDC has supported community health centers in many of New York State’s most devastated communities. Its projects deliver integrated, patient-centered services—from physical to mental health, dental care to supportive resources—for people of all ages with basic and special needs. For PCDC, this approach is about individuals getting and staying healthy and about the health and well-being of entire communities.

“When people are not healthy, their communities are not healthy,” Kotelchuck explains. “Not only do we support projects that deliver care, but the providers also hire from within the surrounding community, putting neighbors to work. So in many ways, these projects become vital building blocks for community strengthening and development.”

With an established foothold in New York—and a nation focused on reforming our current health care delivery system—PCDC is poised to expand. The NEXT Award will support its efforts to fund projects in underserved east coast communities; respond to individual national opportunities; and partner with other organizations on specific initiatives that support state-of-the art community health centers. It projects that, over the next ten years, the impact of the Award for PCDC will be 85,000 individuals served by quality, safe, and effective primary care, which takes us one step closer to Kotelchuck’s dream of primary care for everyone.

+ Visit http://www.pcdcny.org

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