News from NFF: Tailored Investments

Dear Friends of NFF,

At the Clinton Global Initiative America meeting last month in Atlanta, NFF's Antony Bugg-Levine led a discussion about what it will take to collaboratively reorient our approach to solving social problems around outcomes. Whether by exploring new funding arrangements or by delivering services in new ways, we can collaborate with new partners and solve complex social problems. Inspiring organizations like LA Family Housing are thinking in this vein--the organization is collaborating with the Northeast Valley Health Corporation to house a health clinic in a new campus for the homeless, reaching beyond traditional homeless service provision to get families the array of help they need. Read on to learn more about the people touched by LA Family Housing and discover more news from our clients and partners.
topic1
LA Family Housing: Helping Alpha and His Sons Find a Home 
Alpha and his sons. Photo and testimonial courtesy of LA Family Housing.
Alpha, a father of two young boys, often had to miss work to take care of his family due to his wife's alcoholism. Without enough income to pay the bills, he and his children moved from an apartment to a car, and finally, to an office space. "We spent months sleeping in an office space because that was all I could afford to rent," Alpha said. "I had to take showers at the gym, and my boys used a friend's place."

As the situation grew worse, Alpha connected with LA Family Housing, the largest provider of affordable housing and homeless services in the San Fernando Valley. Finding help was "the first glimmer of hope I'd had in a long time," Alpha explained. Case managers at LA Family Housing had relationships with landlords and found permanent housing for him and his boys. They also offered employment counseling, which helped Alpha land a full-time job with a national retail company. "I've been through a lot with my kids," he said, "but one thing I know--I never give up."

Part of what makes LA Family Housing so important for people like Alpha is its emphasis on integrated supportive services. By looking at the whole person and offering a range of support, which might include job readiness and job placement, substance abuse recovery, or life skills training, clients are able to get to the root of their challenges.

To enhance this model of integrated care, LA Family Housing is constructing a state-of-the-art, 80,000 square foot Campus that will offer a full continuum of housing, health care, and social supports in one central location. NFF is providing $8.35 million in financing , which includes participation from Genesis LA and Dignity Health, to support the project. "NFF bridged a critical financing need, which allowed us to move forward with the second phase of our transformative Campus development, a regional hub that will serve thousands in our community," said Stephanie Klasky-Gamer, President and CEO of LA Family Housing.

A groundbreaking ceremony took place in June, and construction is expected to finish in late 2017. The completed Campus will include a health clinic run by the Northeast Valley Health Corporation, temporary and permanent housing, a community room and courtyards for children, and space for partner services such as employment counseling and legal advocacy. NFF is proud to support LA Family Housing as it sets the stage to transform the lives of thousands more families throughout Los Angeles.

Click here to read more testimonials of LA Family Housing's clients. 
NorthTexas
North Texas Area Community Health Centers: Poised to Help More Patients 
Photo Courtesy of North Texas Area Community Health Centers (Northside Center).
North Texas Area Community Health Centers, Inc. (NTACHC) is a special place--as Tarrant County's only federally qualified community health center, it serves a predominantly low-income, uninsured and underinsured population. But despite serving nearly 12,000 patients every year, NTACHC is not able to fully meet the needs of the 132,000 people in its service area of Northeast and Southeast Fort Worth. In fact, the "third next available appointment," an industry standard for measuring appointment availability, is 46 days for new patients compared to the recommended two days. 
 
To significantly expand services for more who need it and cut down on these wait times, NTACHC has plans to move its Northside center to a new 7-acre site. NFF provided $800,000 in financing to allow NTACHC to purchase the land and secure the property in advance of the larger construction project planned for later in 2016. It is a crucial first step to move the project forward and provide more North Texans with access to care.
CitySlicker
Borrower News: City Slicker Farms Hosts Grand Opening of West Oakland Farm Park 
Photo courtesy of City Slicker Farms.
It was a bright and sunny weekend on June 11 and 12 when over 1,200 visitors gathered to celebrate the Grand Opening of the West Oakland Farm Park. The 1.4 acre park is a beautiful green space founded by the grassroots organization City Slicker Farms in partnership with the community. It features environmentally sustainable designs and holds a greenhouse, vegetable gardens, a playground, a chicken coop, a Great Lawn, and a zone for outdoor cooking and nutrition education. NFF filled a critical $400,000 gap in financing last November that enabled City Slicker Farms to finish construction.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony. Kids and adults alike enjoyed musical performances, community yoga, face painting, workshops on gardening and cooking, and food made from fresh produce from the farm. Click here to see more photos from the event!
topic4
Events and Conferences: What We're Doing
 
In partnership with the U.S. Treasury Department's CDFI Fund, NFF's David Streim hosted a webinar on June 22 that explored the various roles that CDFIs have played in the first ten Pay for Success projects launched in the United States. David shared his experiences leading NFF's PFS investing to an audience of CDFIs.

We continue our work supporting charter schools--at the National Charter Schools Conference in Nashville, Vice President of Underwriting Kathy Olsen and Associate Director Debbie Koski presented on the panel "Financing Facility Projects through Budget and Programmatic Challenges." Kathy and Debbie shared how lenders evaluate project budgets and shared strategies for schools to discuss their programmatic challenges with funders.

Upcoming events we plan to attend include stops in Chicago for the National Association of Community Health Centers Expo (August 28-30), the SOCAP Annual Conference in San Francisco (September 13-16), the Novogradac NMTC Conference in New Orleans (October 20-21), the OFN Conference and National Association of Charter School Authorizers Conference in Atlanta (October 24-27), and the California Primary Care Association Conference in Long Beach, CA (October 27-28). If you are also attending, we look forward to seeing you.
topic3
New Staff: Welcoming Emily Martin, Divya Sashti, and
Nisha Prasad! 
 
Emily Martin joined NFF in June as a Senior Lending Officer for the West Coast. Emily's experience in community development finance spans more than 15 years and includes work in construction financing, permanent financing, Low Income Housing Tax Credits, and New Markets Tax Credit investments. In addition to working as an independent consultant, Emily previously served as a Director for First Republic Bank and has held Vice President positions at Bank of the West and Bank of America. She is based in NFF's San Francisco office.

Divya Sashti is an Associate in Financial Services who joined NFF's New York office in April. Divya will be supporting our New Markets Tax Credit work, with responsibilities of reporting, loan servicing, and portfolio management. She joins us from TruFund Financial Services, where she assisted in managing the organization's NMTC portfolio. Prior to TruFund, she served as a coordinator for contract and corporate compliance at Seedco and as a paralegal for the firm Storch Amini & Munves PC.

Nisha Prasad joined in May as a new Janet Thompson Fellow. Based in New York, Nisha is supporting the team's transactions and operations work for a period of 10 weeks. Nisha is an MBA student at Columbia University with specializations in Finance and Social Enterprise. She has previously worked at Intel Corporation as a financial and technical analyst and has experience in social impact finance through internships at One Acre Fund, Endeavor, and Lok Capital.

How can NFF help you?

 

As a leading national Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) with 36 years of experience financing nonprofits, NFF is flexible and tailors loans to individual clients based on their unique financial story, plans, and capacity. NFF can help your organization:

  • Purchase, build or renovate a facility, including leasehold improvements
  • Purchase equipment and technology necessary to your organization's operation
  • Bridge payment of receivables from government grants or capital campaigns
  • Expand programs or grow an earned income or social venture
  • Manage working capital needs with a line of credit