California Winter 2019: Bay’s Future Fund | Healthier California | Meals on Wheels | Meet Our Team
As the year winds down, we at Capital Impact Partners are reflecting on the relationships and partnerships that help communities across California thrive. From affordable housing to health care to healthy food, all of our partners have helped us expand economic, racial, and social equity for the communities that we serve. Read more about some of our work in California this year, and thanks you being our collaborators and supporters. Happy New Year!
Financing That Fosters Opportunity
Preserving and Expanding Affordable Housing for Bay Area Communities
While the San Francisco Bay Area’s affordable housing crisis continues, mission-driven organizations like Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are actively working to address it. Capital Impact, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and the Corporation for Supportive Housing have joined together to support the Bay’s Future Fund (BFF), part of a larger a $500 million effort focused on addressing this issue.
As part of the Partnership, Capital Impact has committed $50 million in flexible, mission-driven capital to help developers preserve and produce thousands of affordable housing units in the next 5 to 10 years. Our community-led, inclusive growth strategy will help ensure that residents can live close to employment, shopping, and critical social services.
Ensuring a Healthier California for All
Supporting community clinics and health centers helps communities without access to essential social services live healthier lives and build wealth. This has been Capital Impact’s focus since 1985, providing us with considerable experience to meet the needs of health care providers big and small.
In partnership with The California Endowment, Capital Impact provides loans with flexible terms and low-cost rates to single and multi-site health care operators through the Healthier California Fund. Loans range from $500,000 to $6 million, and financial support for technical assistance is also provided.
We also partner with the California Primary Care Association and The California Endowment to create the CPCA Ventures Loan Fund, a loan program for health care facility projects, equipment purchases, and working capital financing. Health center operators can access loans of up to $1 million for everything from facility acquisition to construction to expansion, as well as equipment and technical assistance.
If your organization is interested in learning more about any of our mission-driven lending efforts in California, reach out to Cameron Wilson at cwilson@capitalimpact.org.
SOCAP 2019: “We Can Do Better. We Can Be More Courageous”
“’We’re doing good—isn’t that enough?’” is typically the response we get when we try to move our organization forward in terms of addressing racism. No— the short answer. It’s not enough,” stressed Capital Impact’s CEO Ellis Carr to a room full of individuals focused on social impact at SOCAP 2019.
It is this kind of critical examination of our work that is required of us if we are going to more effectively support communities that have experienced decades of systemic disinvestment and bias. CDFIs were born out of the civil rights movement, but years of becoming more “professional” and maintaining relevancy as lenders has caused our sector to stray from our core values of fostering economic opportunity and vibrancy for communities.
“We can do better. We can be more courageous in this space. As much progress as has been made, there is still much to be achieved. I don’t see as many CDFIs standing with activists as previous generations,” Ellis noted. “At Capital Impact, we are beginning to align our work with racial justice and putting resources toward that.”
Follow along in future communications as we continue on this journey to be more effective in addressing issues of racial and social justice.
The Power of Co-ops to Increase Racial Equity
Capital Impact’s Cooperative and Communitiy Initiatives Manager Alison Powers similarly addressed this issue when it comes to low-wage and exploitative working conditions that many of our community members face. In a blog published in partnership with SOCAP, Alison highlighted the power of co-ops to transform the future of work and increase racial equity, particularly for communities of color.
We Are All Immigrants: Standing in Solidarity with Communities to Create Equitable Opportunity
With the exception of our Native American sisters and brothers, we are all immigrants in this land. This is important to remember as the conversation around immigration continues to roil. While some talk about building walls, many immigrants are changing the face of this country for the better, starting businesses, creating jobs, and enriching our cultural fabric. In our latest blog, we discuss how our mission-driven focus leads us to build communities and support our neighbors, no matter where they come from.
As older adults age, especially for those who are struggling economically, social isolation and nutrition issues are real barriers to long-term health. Meals on Wheels (MOW) provides services that help older adults age with dignity in their own homes for as long as possible. Most people know Meals on Wheels through its meal program for older adults, but they also provide safety checks, nutrition counseling, social work, and companionship for both older adults and adults with disabilities. In San Francisco, MOW delivers healthy meals twice daily to more than 3,600 low-income seniors and adults with disabilities. In the third quarter, we supported MOW with a $16 million loan to construct a new kitchen that will double its daily meal production.
Meet Our Local Team
Cameron Wilson, Business Development Officer
Cameron took on the role of Business Development Officer for California in October 2019. He supports Capital Impact’s lending activities across California. Cameron comes to us with more than a decade of experience with Federal Housing Administration multifamily properties. Prior to working at Capital Impact, Cameron worked for three years in conventional lending.
Did you know?
Cameron has a very green thumb, loves performing arts, and builds electric bikes.
Favorite things to see and do in Oakland?
Anywhere that you can find mountain bike trails in the hills of Oakland, CA, there is a good chance you will find Cameron on one of his bikes, loaded down with gear and heading out for a 50+ mile ride. If he’s not on the bike trails in Oakland, the entire Bay Area is full of world-class biking adventures.
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