First Finance Justice Fund Loans Announced
Sacha Adorno
OFN is excited to announce the first two Finance Justice Fund recipients. Congratulations to Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP) and IFF, two CDFIs going deep to combat racial injustice and persistent poverty through investments in their communities.
- INHP. The Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership (INHP) increases affordable and sustainable housing opportunities for individuals and families in Marion County, and serves as a catalyst for the development and revitalization of neighborhoods. INHP enables families to become and remain long-term, successful homeowners through homebuyer education, homeownership advising, and lending services. INHP also provides thought leadership, technical assistance, financial support and programming to community partners dedicated to neighborhood development and revitalization. It offers both supply side and demand side housing solutions for Marion County. INHP has impacted nearly 40,000 individual and families over its 32 year history. More about INHP.
- IFF. A mission-driven lender, real estate consultant, and developer, IFF helps communities thrive by creating opportunities for low-income communities and persons with disabilities across the Midwest. The largest nonprofit CDFI in the Midwest, IFF has made $907 million in loans, leveraging $2.9 billion in community investments since 1988. Through these investments IFF has supported the development of 27.8 million square feet of real estate and created or preserved 12,393 affordable housing units, enabled 372,000 new patient visits in health centers, and created 55,000 student and 7,000 childcare slots at quality schools and childcare centers. More about IFF.
IFF and INHP will use the Fund’s flexible and patient capital as they work on the ground to expertly identify lending opportunities and provide technical assistance to create maximum impact for the individuals and neighborhoods the CDFIs serve.
Finance Justice Fund investments enable these CDFIs to continue breaking through barriers in lending that contribute to the racial wealth gap. With this funding, IFF and INHP will provide responsible financing to nonprofits, homeowners and homebuyers, affordable housing developers, health care centers, grocery stores, community facilities, and more in communities where other financial institutions don’t historically invest. As a result, these investments will create jobs, anchor people to their neighborhoods, and build local economies.
In November, OFN and Twitter launched the Finance Justice Fund to address long-standing issues of disinvestment, the racial wealth gap, and persistent poverty nationwide. The socially responsible investment aims to bring $1 billion in capital from corporate and philanthropic partners to rural, urban, and Native communities most underestimated and underserved by mainstream finance.
As the first corporate investor in the Fund, Twitter has committed $100 million for long-term, below market rate loans, making a $1 million grant and ongoing contributions to support the fund and disbursement of loans through OFN’s member CDFIs.
“The first Finance Justice Fund loans to IFF and INHP are milestones — they move forward OFN and Twitter’s bold vision of advancing change in Black, Latinx, and other underserved communities,” said Amir Kirkwood, OFN’s chief lending and investment officer. “This is just the beginning. OFN will continue to direct capital to CDFIs, specialized lenders with the expertise, capacity, and experience needed to build a more inclusive economy and undo historic disinvestment. As we strive to serve more people and places in the months to come, we invite more corporations and philanthropies to follow Twitter’s lead and invest in justice through CDFIs.”
###
Corporations and philanthropies interested in investing in the Finance Justice Fund, please contact Amir Kirkwood, OFN’s chief lending and investment officer.
CDFIs interested in learning more about the Finance Justice Fund, visit OFN’s Finance Justice Fund page or contact Lisa Wright, senior vice president of financial services.