Capital Impact Partners Increases Access to Health Care, Education and Housing Through Strong 2016 Financing Performance

ARLINGTON, Va., Aug. 29, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Capital Impact Partners announced today that it provided $52.5 million in financing to projects delivering social impact for underserved communities across the U.S. during the first half of 2016. In particular, second–quarter loans increased 55 percent over the same quarter in 2015. These loans support projects that increase access to housing, health care and education for low-income communities while also creating hundreds of jobs.

"Our mission-driven team works tirelessly to ensure that good projects that increase access to critical social services for underserved communities receive the financing they need. These numbers demonstrate that," said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. "This strong start to the year gives us important momentum in facing essential social and economic justice issues that are core to our ambitious new five-year strategy that will help us continue our vital work in building strong and equitable communities nationwide."

Launched in January, Capital Impact's new five-year strategy—a 2020 Vision for Communities—is based on four pillars of action: addressing systemic poverty, creating equity, building healthy communities, and promoting inclusive growth.

Other milestones of the second quarter include:

• Finalizing a $3 million Program Related Investment (PRI) from the Ford Foundation. Capital Impact will leverage the PRI to work in partnership with the Crescent City Community Land Trust in New Orleans to encourage long-term affordability in that rapidly gentrifying city through the use of land trusts and other shared equity-ownership models. This represents the organization's third PRI with the Ford Foundation in eight years
• Marking the one-year anniversary of the launch of the Age Strong Investment Fund in collaboration with AARP, AARP Foundation, and Calvert Foundation. This initiative works to spur investment in projects that allow low-income people 50 and over age with dignity in their own community. Capital Impact has closed four such transactions totaling $10 million since the fund was launched.
• Closing the first transaction under the Healthier California Fund. Launched in partnership with The California Endowment, the fund supports community health center and clinic ability to grow and innovate in serving the state's low-income communities.
• Naming Natalie Gunn to the position of Chief Financial Officer. Gunn replaces Ellis Carr, who has assumed the role of President and Chief Executive Officer.
• Awarding grants totaling $45,000 to the Democracy at Work Institute and Project Equity. Made through Capital Impact's second annual Co-op Innovation Award, the grants recognize those organizations that lead the way in bringing the cooperative model to scale and in having a social impact on low-income communities.
• Releasing two reports that highlight Capital Impact's work in Los Angeles County and utilizing the New Markets Tax Credit Program.

"The second quarter of 2016 is one of our strongest to date. From health care to education, cooperatives to housing, that impact is going to be felt by some of highest-need communities in this country," said Scott Sporte, Chief Lending Officer for Capital Impact Partners. "Add to that the launch of new funds and partnerships, and I'm incredibly optimistic about even bigger accomplishments moving forward.

Second quarter loan disbursements reached from California and Washington to Michigan, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. This support is expected to create nearly 900 permanent and construction-related jobs, further helping those who live in the communities Capital Impact serves.

Highlights of completed transactions include:

Increasing Access to Health Care
Fremont, California's newest medical clinic, Tri-City Health Center, received $1 million in financing from the first loan closed under Capital Impact's Healthier California Fund. Expected to serve 8,000 patients annually, the 20,000-sq.-ft. clinic is the only health provider in the area that offers primary and preventive health care services to low-income and uninsured residents. It will increase the organization's support of patients throughout Alameda County with 10 medical exam rooms and 10 dental operatories. Most of the patients who will use this facility live below the federal poverty line, with approximately 70 percent using Medi-Cal. The surrounding community is primarily Hispanic and Asian with roughly 40 percent best served in their native languages.

The total cost of the Tri-City's renovation financing is $2.1 million, with 50 percent coming from the Nonprofit Finance Fund. This financing comes on the heels of a $6 million loan that enabled Tri-City to acquire the property in late 2015. Both organizations shared in the financing of that deal as well.

Also in Northern California, Capital Impact provided Sonoma Valley Community Health Center (SVCHC) with $4 million in financing to support the acquisition and construction of a new facility that will allow for consolidation of all operations in one location as well as substantial expansion of the center's services. SVCHC is the only community health center in the small city of Sonoma, CA, and focuses on a low-income population, with 49 percent of patients covered by Medicaid, 11.3 percent by Medicare, and 19.5 percent uninsured. Over the past five years SVCHC has doubled its number of patients and currently serves approximately 7,000 per year, with 23,500 annual visits. Capital Impact made use of the innovative CDFI Bond Guarantee Program to provide low-cost, long-term financing.

With a focus on connecting low-income seniors to health care access, Capital Impact worked with Keystone Healthcare Development Services (KHDS) to finance the construction of an expanded health center operated by Primary Health Network (PHN) in Transfer, Pennsylvania. With 3,400 patients seen annually, this Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) will not only bring much-needed health care to a rural part of the state, but will also support a sizable aging population, with nearly 35 percent of patients Medicare-eligible. The $3 million transaction was financed through Capital Impact's Age Strong Investment Fund.

Finally, to support the continued expansion of Los Angeles's Bienvenidos Community Health Clinic (soon to become Via Care), Capital Impact used its California Primary Care Association (CPCA) Ventures Loan Program to make a $700,000 term loan. Bienvenidos provides primary, dental, mental, and behavioral health services to a large population in the heavily Latino East Los Angeles area. With the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the number of Medi-Cal and other public insurance patients increased from 11 percent to 84 percent between FY13 and FY15.

Providing High Quality Education
Representing one of its more remarkable charter school transactions, Capital Impact joined with the Reinvestment Fund (RF) and Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) to structure a $15.7 million loan for the purchase and renovation of a building that formerly housed Washington DC's historic St. Paul's College. The deal will allow two DC charter schools to occupy the space: Washington Leadership Academy (WLA) and Lee Montessori Public Charter School (LMPCS). 

Together, the two institutions will, at full capacity, bring essential education access to nearly 700 high-need students. LMPCS's current student body is 50 percent minority, 20 percent economically disadvantaged, and 19 percent with special education needs. Because of its heavy recruitment from Washington DC's low-income neighborhoods, WLA expects to serve a student population that will largely qualify for free and reduced-price lunches.

The three nonprofit lenders worked with the Charter School Incubator Initiative, a partnership between Building Hope and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education to support and manage charter schools in the area. 

Across the country, in Los Angeles, Capital Impact joined again with LIIF, this time to provide a $7.4 million leverage loan for a New Markets Tax Credit transaction that will finance the acquisition and construction of a new permanent home for Math and Science College Preparatory. ExEd and U.S. Bank also supported the deal.   The school has been recognized as a prestigious Gold Ribbon School by the California Department of Education for the high-quality education it provides to a low-income student body—nearly all receive free or reduced-price lunch and 30 percent are English language learners.

Capital Impact provided a $3 million tenant improvement loan to support the growth of Amethod Public Schools, high-performing nonprofit management organization operating in the East Bay area around San Francisco. The loan will support the continued success and growth of John Henry High School (JHHS), which opened in the fall of 2015 in Richmond, CA, and is serving as many as 450 students, 80 percent of whom are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches and 40 percent of whom are English language learners. The school will now have an affordable permanent home that is closer to the other five schools in the network.

In yet another partnership with LIIF, Capital Impact provided $4 million of an $8 million transaction enabling Pacific Charter School Development (PCSD) to acquire an 82,000-sq.-ft. building in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles. The renovated building will become the permanent home for Endeavor College Prep (ECP), an already high-performing K-8 charter school. The new facility will create 648 permanent school seats for underserved students, and will allow ECP to consolidate its three existing sites into one central campus. Ninety-four percent of the high-need Latino student population qualify for free or reduced-price lunch and nearly 50 percent are English language learners.  

Expanding Housing Co-Ops
A planned housing community in Mead, Washington, rechristened itself Takesa Village -- as in "Takes A Village"—after Capital Impact joined with ROC USA and the Washington State Housing Finance Commission to help residents form a housing cooperative and purchase the property. Takesa is a manufactured housing community situated about 10 miles north of Spokane. Thanks to this $2 million loan, the cooperative has been able to take over from a landlord who, with negligible ties to the community, allowed the property fall into disrepair. More than 94 percent of the residents are of low or moderate income, and cooperative ownership will help them build equity through the ownership of their homes.

Continuing Detroit's Revitalization
Capital Impact continued to support inclusive growth across the city of Detroit with a number of transactions through its Woodward Corridor Investment Fund and Detroit Neighborhoods Fund supporting increased access to affordable housing, new retail and job creation, and the protection of historic properties. Highlights of that work include the Elliott Building, Scott Castle, Casamira Apartments, Nailah Commoons, and Kercheval.

Supporting Dignified Aging
Capital Impact is helping to complete the final phase of the Thome Rivertown Neighborhood, a Detroit community that currently serves 370 low-income elders through affordable assisted living, supportive services, and a Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) day center.

The $4.5 million loan, made through CIP's Age Strong Investment Fund, finances the acquisition of a 20,000-sq.-ft. building in Detroit, and its conversion to two Green House homes and a ground-floor retail space. When completed, the Green Houses will serve 21 low-income, Medicare-eligible elders. These elders currently live in skilled nursing facilities, despite not needing such a high level of care, and by transitioning them into Green House assisted living, PACE of Southeast Michigan expects to save approximately $130,000/year over institutional nursing care. The project is the first partnership between PACE and a Green House operator.

About Capital Impact Partners: Capital Impact Partners transforms underserved communities into strong, vibrant places of opportunity for people at every stage of life. We deliver strategic financing, incubate new social programs, and provide capacity-building to help ensure that low-to-moderate-income individuals have access to quality healthcare and education, healthy foods, affordable housing, and the ability to age with dignity. A nonprofit community development financial institution, Capital Impact Partners has disbursed more than $2 billion to revitalize communities over the last 30 years. Headquartered in Arlington, VA, Capital Impact Partners operates nationally, with local offices in Detroit, MI, and Oakland, CA. Learn more at www.capitalimpact.org

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SOURCE Capital Impact Partners