Press Releases
The Reinvestment Fund Celebrates 20 Years of Community Investment in the Greater Philadelphia Region, Support of its Broad Base of Investors
Thousands of Homes, Jobs, Charter Schools and Child Care Slots Created Thanks to the Generous Investments of Individuals, Religious Institutions, Banks, Foundations, and Gov’t Agencies.PHILADELPHIA, PA. | June 3, 2005 |The Reinvestment Fund, Inc. (TRF) is celebrating this week its first 20 years during which it has created or sustained 10,400 homeowner opportunities, 25,000 jobs, 12,200 charter school slots and 200 businesses across Philadelphia and, during the last few years, the mid-Atlantic region, including Baltimore, New Jersey and Delaware. In a ceremony Thursday night, TRF thanked its broad array of investors for making its work possible.
TRF President and CEO Jeremy Nowak said: “We started out 20 years ago with nothing more than a goal of raising $1 million in development loans to make our community a better place for low- and moderate-income people to work and live. Today, we manage $258 million and last year made more than $65 million in new loans and investments. Our first 20 years made us a national leader in community investment and development. For that, we thank our broad array of investors for their vision and support.”
Since its inception in 1985, TRF has created opportunity and choice for low-wealth communities and low- and moderate-income individuals in concrete and measurable ways: created, renovated, or preserved over 10,400 housing units; created or retained over 25,000 jobs; created, renovated, or preserved over 3.9 million square feet of commercial space; created or preserved over 12,200 charter school slots; created or preserved over 10,800 child care slots; financed 200 businesses, and created 33 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of clean renewable energy in the past two fiscal years.
The Reinvestment Fund marked its 20th anniversary celebration Thursday evening at the National Constitution Center. The celebration included a performance by the People's Light & Theatre Company inspired by TRF’s 20 years and the awarding of TRF's George Bailey Awards to:
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Sister Marie Lucey of the Sisters of St. Francis and Sister Pat Marshall of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament -- the first two orders to support and invest in TRF
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State Representative Dwight Evans for his many years of support and leadership in community development and education
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The Industrial Areas Foundation representing hundreds of congregations and community groups nationally, for leading efforts to rebuild blighted urban areas throughout our region.
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John Ball, outgoing TRF Board Chair, president of R.M. Shoemaker Co., an individual investor, company investor and whose church is a long-term investor, for his leadership.
Bob Keith, incoming board chair and managing director of TL Ventures, pointed to the following examples as representative of the important work of the organization:
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St. Joseph's Carpenter's Society, Camden, New Jersey - With TRF's financial assistance, St.Joe's has created or rehabilitated over 600 units of housing in East Camden. Over a 10 year period, this partnership between St.Joe's and TRF has led to investments in this community that have increased the market value in this area from $50 million to $110 million, which translates to an increase of $23,000 in wealth for each family in this East Camden community.
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Charter High School for Architecture and Design (CHAD) – Philadelphia - TRF's financed the facilities for the first charter high school based on architecture and design in the nation. CHAD enrolls students from every zip code in the city and has average daily attendance rate of 95 percent (city-wide it is at 63 percent). To date, TRF has closed 46 loans to 27 charter schools, totaling $42 million.
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Foreclosures Analysis – Monroe County - For the Pennsylvania Secretary of Banking, TRF analyzed the mortgage foreclosure epidemic in the Poconos’ Monroe County and followed this with a statewide analysis of foreclosures which brought to light the alarming percentage of subprime mortgage foreclosures in the state.
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Market Value Analyses - Philadelphia and South Jersey - For both Mayor Street of Philadelphia and for the State of New Jersey, TRF developed groundbreaking data analysis to provide a framework for action around investment and stimulating market forces in Philadelphia and Camden.
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Sustainable Development Fund – Southeast Pennsylania - The TRF-managed Sustainable Development Fund has become a leader nationally among clean energy funds, investing in wind power, fuel cells and photovoltaics. With SDF’s support for wind, Pennsylvania has become the leading producer of wind energy east of the Mississippi.
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Fresh Food Financing Initiative – Pennsylvania - TRF manages the newly created Pennsylvania Fresh Food Financing Initiative, an innovative capitalization program that finances supermarket developers who wish to locate in underserved neighborhoods across the state. The Initiative is a $40 million multi-faceted financing pool that offers a variety of resources to supermarkets in underserved areas and has already garnered support through investors such as the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Bank of America.
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NJ-PLAN – New Jersey - TRF now manages for the State of New Jersey a $10 million pre-development loan and acquisition program for nonprofit developers.
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Oliver neighborhood – Baltimore - TRF worked with local leaders and business people to develop a neighborhood plan to arrest the serious decline of this low-income area adjacent to John Hopkins University Hospital. This TRF/Baltimore community effort has attracted the public support of U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski.
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Children’s Village – Philadelphia - This premier child care organization in Philadelphia almost exclusively serving low-income children (most of whom are Asian American) received TRF financing in the amount of $450,000 for construction permitting it to serve a larger number of children in families that otherwise would have had no professional day care alternatives.
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Baltimore Dredge - Baltimore - Baltimore Dredge is a small and growing manufacturing company with customers in 82 different countries. TRF Private Equity invested $1. 5 million to expand Baltimore operations. The company benefited from a $1.5 million TRF capital investment for the expansion of Baltimore Dredge operations.)
To hear from TRF’s investors, borrowers and partners from across throughout the greater Philadelphia region, see our video online. TRF’s Web site also includes the most recent annual report detailing our mission, accomplishments and financials and all of TRF’s publications.
ABOUT TRF
The Reinvestment Fund, Inc. is a leading innovator in the financing of neighborhood and economic revitalization. Central to its mission is a commitment to put capital and private initiative to work for the public good. TRF builds wealth and opportunity for low-wealth communities and low- and moderate-income individuals through the promotion of socially and environmentally responsible development. TRF makes loans, equity investments, and grants to housing, small business, community facilities, commercial real estate, and clean energy and conservation projects. TRF provides relevant and high quality research, information and policy ideas to government, nonprofit institutions, and private sector partners. TRF builds public and private partnerships and systems that connect low-wealth people and places with opportunity, information, and resources.