Capital Impact staff sorted through canned goods for Washington area families.

Living Our Values Within Our Communities: A Photo Essay

Each year at Capital Impact Partners, we host an offsite, where all staff comes together to discuss successes and challenges in our work, and strategizes how we can continue to commit to the communities that we serve for greater social impact. This year, we held our offsite in our backyard: Washington, D.C. Being a mission-driven organization, we also sought to live out our values and be “of” our Washington, D.C. communities by getting out from behind our desks and serving those who need the most support.

How To Use Historic Tax Credits To Promote Community Development

By Danielle Graceffa, Senior Director, Legal Services

Real estate development has always been a risky proposition, fraught with numerous challenges that must always be carefully balanced against the promise of reward.

Throw in the possibility of rehabbing historic properties and that risk-reward scenario is certainly amplified. The city of Detroit, where we have our Midwestern office, is a perfect example.

Founded in the 1700s, the city has witnessed various transformations, with Henry Ford setting the stage for Detroit to become the booming manufacturing center that it is best known as. During that time, the population swelled from around 200,000 residents to well over 1.5 million.

Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners

Pivoting to Create Opportunity Amidst National Change

Ellis Carr, President and CEO

2016 was marked by change—both for the U.S. and for Capital Impact. Our country witnessed a transition in leadership and with it words and actions that have divided our country. Part of this division included the voices of many who felt the American Dream had passed them by.

“Undesign the Redline:” Redefining the History of Redlining and Mortgage Lending

By Jason Anderson, Senior Director of Marketing & Communications

At Capital Impact Partners, we think about our efforts around affordable housing, healthy communities and inclusive growth in terms of both the past and the future. It is critical for us to understand the past when we think about how we develop projects and policies, who is at the table and what our level of intention is with each project we undertake.

Putting Down Roots For A Better Future

By Alison Powers, Program Officer

More than 10,000 low-and-moderate income homeowners are sleeping better at night thanks to our partner ROC USA. Instead of worrying about rent increases or land sales that might force them to move, residents of manufactured-home communities (what many commonly refer to as mobile home parks) across the country have purchased their land and put down roots through ROC USA’s cooperative ownership program.

Since 2008, the nonprofit social venture’s innovative model has spun off 182 resident-owned communities in 14 states, ranging in size from eight to 300 dwellings. The 10,000th home was recently secured at Turnpike Park Cooperative in Westborough, Mass.

Investing in Detroit’s Comeback: Optimism & Challenges on the Road to Inclusive Growth

By Bradford Frost, Director, Detroit Program

2015 was a year of optimism for post-bankruptcy Detroit.

We saw significant investments pour in, including the first projects due to the $100 million pledge from JP Morgan Chase. Combined with the $30 million Woodward Corridor Investment Fund, new and rehabbed buildings are getting developed at a fast clip. Thousands of new streetlights are on. Blight is being tackled at a faster pace than ever before. Detroit’s comeback story is replacing the apocalyptic headlines of recent memory.