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New
Energy-Efficient Homes in Neptune |
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TRF's
Sean Closkey speaking at Schoolhouse Square's model
home opening. |
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TRF Development Partners
and its partners
celebrated the
opening of the
Schoolhouse
Square model home
in Neptune, New
Jersey. The event brought together state and local public
officials as well community leaders, residents and the first
homebuyers who will become part of this 58-home urban
community. These beautiful three-bedroom, energy-efficient twin and townhomes
range in price from $104,000
to $226,000, making them affordable to families earning
between 45 and 100% of the area median income.
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New Funding
Available for Energy-Efficiency Projects in Philadelphia |
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TRF was recently selected as the City of Philadelphia’s Lending
Partner for the $9 million
Greenworks Loan Fund, designed to promote energy efficiency and conservation, get
Philadelphians back to work and leverage private investment.
TRF and the
Philadelphia Industrial Development
Corporation
(PIDC) will co-manage the Loan Fund, which
will offer construction loans, term loans, and lease
financing to support energy-efficient building retrofits, energy-efficient building practices in new construction
projects, and energy-efficient machinery and equipment.
The Loan Fund is partly funded through the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, with TRF providing
the matching capital. Learn about how to
apply for financing
through the Greenworks Loan Fund. |
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Fresh Grocer
Opens at Philadelphia's Historic Progress Plaza |
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On December 11, 2009, CDFI Fund Director Donna Gambrell, state and
local public officials joined long-time residents of North
Philadelphia, developer - Progress Trust, Inc., The Fresh
Grocer, and many others to celebrate the opening of a beautiful
new full-service supermarket in Progress Plaza. The Fresh
Grocer's opening
marked the culmination of a project to renovate and upgrade
Progress Plaza, the nation’s oldest African-American owned and
operated shopping center. This development is significant as it
exemplifies what the
PA Fresh Food Financing Initiative
and a partnership of public and private investment can make
happen. In a neighborhood that has been without a supermarket
for more than a decade and hit hard by the current recession,
the Fresh Grocer brings 46,000 square feet of food retail,
improved access to fresh foods and 225 new jobs.
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PA Representative Dwight
Evans, State Senator Shirley Kitchen, State
Representative Curtis Thomas, and Pat Burns, President
of The Fresh Grocer |
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School Quality Impacts Housing
Prices |
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TRF recently completed a study that measured school quality
in Philadelphia, quantifying its impact on the value of
neighborhood residential real estate. Funded by the William
Penn Foundation, the study found that elementary school test
scores play a significant role in the prediction of sales
price, even after controlling for neighborhood and
individual home conditions. For every level of school
quality improvement, the housing price increases 0.52 cents
per square foot on average. For a 900 square foot home, a 10
point increase in school quality translates into a $4,500
increase in sales price.
Learn more
about the study. |
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PolicyMap Now Available to Universities |
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PolicyMap
can now offer its
robust array of data and analytical tools as a site license for school and
university libraries.
Schools and universities can
now provide their staff and students with access to the data they
need to conduct neighborhood-based analysis for their
research and studies. Like all PolicyMap subscribers, these
libraries will receive continually updated data and new
functionalities as they are added.
Learn
more
about how students and
universities derive value from PolicyMap or
jump in
and start exploring.
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Join the Movement for a National
Supermarket Program |
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Momentum continues to build for a national supermarket
financing program, modeled on TRF's
Pennsylvania Fresh Food
Financing Initiative. Last month, U.S. Representative
Allyson Schwartz introduced a
bi-partisan resolution recognizing the need for a national program to provide an
effective and economically sustainable solution to the
problem of limited access to healthy foods in underserved
communities. A
National Fresh Food Financing Initiative (NFFFI)
would support efforts of the private sector to open retail
outlets, such as grocery stores and supermarkets, which
would provide Americans with healthier food options and
stimulate local economic development. Last month, New
York Governor Patterson also announced the launch of a
statewide
Healthy Food/Healthy Communities
Initiative, selecting
the
Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), supported by TRF and The
Food Trust,
to administer the program. TRF will
be providing technical assistance and training for the roll-out
of this program.
Show your support. |
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Understanding
the Role of Economic Development in Reducing Childhood
Obesity |
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The House
Subcommittee on Health held a hearing on December 16, 2009
on
Innovations in Addressing Childhood
Obesity. TRF's
Jeremy Nowak was invited to testify before the subcommittee,
sharing his expertise on innovative economic development
strategies that can help reduce obesity among children and
adolescents. Others testifying at the hearing included those
from the Centers for Disease Control, the American
Association of Pediatrics and the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation.
Read Mr. Nowak's complete testimony.
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New
Investments in December |
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TRF
ended 2009 with $19 million in new December investments,
$14 million of which came from investors new to TRF.
CityFirst Bank of DC made its first $2 million investment in
TRF’s core loan fund and ING Direct made its first ever loan
to a CDFI -- $12 million. MetLife Bank continued its
relationship with TRF with $5 million in TRF’s core loan
fund. The geographic interests of these three investors span
from New Jersey through the Philadelphia region and Delaware
and Washington DC, offering TRF continued ability to meet
the demand for financing throughout the mid-Atlantic
region. |
