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In this issue:
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| New Capital for Energy-Efficiency Projects |
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TRF
received $11 million in low-cost capital from Bank of
America and the Kresge Foundation to retrofit and
rehab commercial, nonprofit, government, mixed-use and multi-family
buildings. TRF received $8 million from Bank of America's $55 million Energy Efficiency
Finance Program to finance the upfront
investment costs that introduce energy-efficient retrofits in low-income
communities. These building improvements can reduce overall energy usage
and contribute to job creation. The Bank of America capital is available to projects in Philadelphia and Baltimore. For the Philadelphia area, the Kresge Foundation capital joins the Bank of America award to support projects that are part of the EnergyWorks program, which TRF administers for the City and the Metropolitan
Caucus, in partnership with the Philadelphia Industrial Development
Corporation. In Baltimore, the Bank of America award signals the availability of
attractive new capital for energy efficiency projects. |
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| New City Arts Historic Homes in Baltimore's Greenmount West |
| TRF Development Partners recently completed rehabilitation of 9 vacant rowhomes for rental occupancy in the 400 block of East Oliver Street in Baltimore's Greenmount West neighborhood. The homes are part of TRF DP's $17 million City Arts development. TRF co-developed the first phase of City Arts with Homes for America and Jubilee Baltimore, to create the 69-unit City Arts Apartments building. These energy-efficient, two-bedroom rental homes represent the second phase of this development, which is bringing new life to the neighborhood. The homes, which are part of the City of Baltimore Commission for Historical & Architectural Preservation program, feature stained glass front door transoms and distinctive iron flower boxes created by artisans. A third phase, City Arts Townhomes, scheduled to begin this year, will create 7 new for-sale single-family homes featuring artists’ lofts and top floor decks. For information on the rental or for sale homes, contact Kim Nunnally. |
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| Congress Introduces New HFFI Legislation |
| TRF, PolicyLink and The Food Trust continue to raise national awareness about inequitable access to healthy foods in urban and rural communities and work to secure Federal resources to support and enhance local healthy food financing initiatives. For the second year in a row, a bipartisan Congressional coalition introduced legislation in December to support a federal Healthy Food Financing Initiative. Under HFFI, $125 million will be invested in efforts to reduce the number of low-income Americans living in areas without access to healthy food. The initiative will seed and expand existing healthy food financing partnerships across the country, combating childhood obesity and creating thousands of permanent and construction jobs. Reintroduced from the 111th Congress, HFFI offers more targeted support to address food access. The HFFI legislation is modeled after the Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, which turned $30 million of state seed money into $190 million of additional investment. Last year, TRF was delighted to be among 12 CDFIs who received HFFI awards through the CDFI Fund and among 16 organizations that received HFFI awards through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Community Economic Development program. |
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| Making Data Accessible through PolicyMap |
| PolicyMap continues to become the platform and tool of choice for those seeking to share and empower others with access to data. Last quarter, the Bank On initiative launched a Research Your Community tool on its website, JoinBankOn.org. The tool uses the PolicyMap platform to provide nationwide data on the number of unbanked and under-banked households in a given community. The tool enhances efforts to bring people into the financial mainstream by highlighting areas where the population has limited banking resources. Users can download estimates at the state, county, city, MSA and Census tract levels. Users can also download supplementary demographic data and print customized reports on financially underserved populations. PolicyMap also partnered with Citi Community Development (CCD) to create a PolicyMap data tool for its website. The tool connects CCD's nonprofit partners and stakeholders to data on demographics, home sale statistics, mortgage trends, education trends and information about jobs and the economy. Citi and PolicyMap also hosted a webinar on the tool for those who were interested in learning how to use its powerful data visualization and other features. Click here for a recording of the webinar. |
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| Baltimore Releases 2011 Housing Market Typology |
The Baltimore City Department of Planning in partnership with the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), recently released its 2011 Baltimore City Housing Market Typology. The typology is based on a 2011 Market Value Analysis (MVA) TRF conducted for the Departments, updating its last MVA for the City in 2008. Funded by the Abell Foundation, the typology will assist city government, local foundations and non-profits to understand local market strengths and to appropriately match neighborhood strategies to market conditions, for the best use of public and private resources. In addition, the typology will inform neighborhood level planning efforts and provide residents with an understanding of the local housing market conditions in their communities. TRF’s first MVA for Baltimore in 2005, was a critical element to the City’s Comprehensive Master Plan, the first to be developed by Baltimore in three decades. As context for this type of work, read a recent article by Ira Goldstein, TRF Director of Policy Solutions in the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System's publication on Putting Data to Work: Data-Driven Approaches to Strengthening Neighborhoods. |
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| TRF CEO in the Spotlight |
| TRF's CEO Don Hinkle-Brown was among the business leaders from the Northeast recently invited to the White House Business Council's forum on job creation. The event brought together business leaders, members of the Council well as officials from the Departments of Commerce and Treasury to startegize with local business leaders on job creation and business expansion. Mr. Hinkle-Brown was also recently in New Orleans as part the CDFI Fund's Capacity Building Initiative for Financing Healthy Food Options track, provided by Opportunity Finance Network. A speaker at the two-day workshop focused on successfully financing food retail initiatives, Mr. Hinkle-Brown provided expertise on programmmatic design and the underwriting of fresh food retail projects. |
| TRF in the News |
- TRF's Sara Vernon Sterman on Create Jobs for USA and the multiplier effect of every dollar contributed. http://bit.ly/xbEFYt
- U.S. Rep. Schwartz & U.S. Rep. Brady on national efforts to improve access to healthy foods in Philadephia Inquirer op-ed. http://bit.ly/yV9R4m
- Examine today's job numbers by zipcode, use PolicyMap's Marketplace Radio interactive map at http://mktplc.org/vrRTbq
- TRF-financed Mariposa Food Co-op's expansion plan includes outreach to its West Philly community. See Philadelphia Weekly story: http://bit.ly/sjFtGp
- TRF is proud to partner with Healthy Food and Healthy Communities Fund & NYC's FRESH program, creating access to healthy food & jobs. http://ow.ly/7AEhh
- TRF-financed Superfresh in Philadelphia's Northern Liberties brings fresh food & 120 jobs. Feature story in Progressive Grocer: http://bit.ly/upS2qF
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Comments or feedback on our newsletter?
Email us at TRFNews@trfund.com. |
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