With the recent real estate and mortgage market meltdown, TRF's significant expertise around foreclosures and subprime lending and our ability to distill this complex issue has been in particular demand. In recent weeks, TRF’s Jeremy Nowak and Ira Goldstein have spoken on the issue to a variety of groups, including community development bankers, philanthropists and Federal Reserve Banks across the country. Dr. Goldstein, Director of TRF’s Policy and Information Services, was also invited to testify at hearings by the National Commission on Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, convened to address national issues around housing discrimination and residential segregation. Dr. Goldstein's testimony included the presentation of a paper commissioned by Ohio State University’s Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity that explores the civil rights aspect of foreclosures. The paper draws from TRF’s work in Philadelphia and Baltimore, and looks at the role deregulation and the lack of federal law enforcement played in creating the current crisis. Read the complete paper and look for other publications and video of TRF staff presentations on our website in the Resources section -- we will post them as they become available.

The U.S. Department of Treasury's CDFI Fund recently announced its sixth round of New Markets Tax Credit Awards. TRF was one of 70 organizations nationwide to receive an NMTC allocation in this round. TRF will use its $75 million NMTC allocation to continue to finance charter schools, supermarkets and other commercial real estate projects across our mid-Atlantic trade area. This award is TRF's third NMTC allocation. TRF received a total of $113.5 million in past NMTC allocations, 100% of which has been deployed.

PolicyMap Adds HUD Data Related to National Stabilization Program

HUD's new Neighborhood Stabilization Program is designed to provide emergency assistance to state and local governments to acquire and redevelop foreclosed properties that might otherwise become sources of abandonment and blight within their communities. Those applying for the grant dollars can now use PolicyMap to evaluate specific pieces of HUD data critical to preparing plans and strategies for targeting funds. While providing data like this gets to the core of why TRF created PolicyMap, we are also excited that data from the site has supported two recent BusinessWeek.com stories about towns that could be hardest hit by the financial crisis and those that would the safest to ride out the recession, and has helped staffers in both presidential campaigns to localize their messages on the trail.

Charter School Lending Tops $157 million

TRF has closed $157 million in loans to 48 charter schools, which enroll more than 25,000 students. Among the most recent schools to join our portfolio is the Latin American Montessori Bilingual (LAMB) Public Charter School in Washington DC. Established in 2005, LAMB is the only dual language Montessori public charter school in D.C., and one of only a few nationwide. The school, with classes of pre-school through sixth grade, is one where children whose native language is Spanish learn English and native English speakers learn Spanish. TRF helped the school purchase its facility, which was built in 1864 as Fort Stevens Civil War barracks and was later one of the first schools for freed men in the District. TRF collaborated with United Bank and Building Hope to finance the project. TRF utilized a combination of TRF's energy funds and New Markets Tax Credit-eligible funds from Merrill Lynch in the deal.

This October, two TRF-supported projects broke ground in Camden. The first is a new 42-unit owner-occupied housing development known as Carpenter Square that will replace the area known as "The Alley", one of the most notorious drug areas in the City of Camden during the 1990s. The project is the beginning of a collaboration between Cooper's Ferry Development Association, St. Joseph's Carpenter Society, and TRF Development Partners. The second project is the transformation of Cooper Commons Park in the Cooper Plaza neighborhood. The project is part of a larger effort by Cooper University Hospital (CUH) to create a state-of-the-art urban health sciences campus woven into a revitalized Cooper Plaza neighborhood. With support from the Ford Foundation, TRF provided a planning grant to CUH for a community visioning and design process, led by Cooper Lanning Civic Association, to turn this long-neglected park into a larger, family-friendly showpiece for the neighborhood. The park's restoration is supported by Camden County and NJDOT and includes a commitment by CUH to maintain the park for 20 years. TRF continues to work with CUH and its community partners to improve the quality of life for the residents of Cooper Plaza.

Tough economic times can intensify the demand for basic opportunities such as affordable housing, good schools and quality jobs in the distressed communities TRF serves. Last year, TRF hit record lending levels, in part because conventional bank capital was diminishing in these neighborhoods. The challenging next months provide a real opportunity for TRF and its investors to step in to fill the void. We take this opportunity to thank those investors who have increased their investments including a new client of Trillium Asset Management Corporation. To learn more more about increasing your investment or to open a new investment in TRF, contact invest@trfund.com.