Colorado Enterprise Fund
(CEF) has worked with Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) since 2012 when it received an impact investment of $500,000 from CHI to provide funding for loans to new and existing small businesses in disadvantaged Colorado communities. In 2017, CHI renewed its investment of $500,000 to help CEF continue its community development impact. This investment leverages matching capital from municipalities and banks interested in supporting small businesses in distressed areas.
The mission of Catholic Health Initiatives is to nurture the healing ministry of the Church, supported by education and research, through the creation of healthier communities, especially for the poor and vulnerable who may not have access to the resources they need. CHI invests in organizations nationwide which provide a community benefit, defined as serving a specific population that is economically poor or communities that are otherwise disadvantaged with the intent of improving their overall health.
Catholic Health Initiatives, a nonprofit, faith-based health system formed in 1996 through the consolidation of four Catholic health systems, expresses its mission each day by creating and nurturing healthy communities in the hundreds of sites across the nation where they provide health care. The nation's third-largest nonprofit health system, CHI is based in Englewood, Colorado. It operates in 17 states and comprises 104 hospitals, including four academic health centers and major teaching hospitals as well as 30 critical-access facilities. It also operates a variety of community health-services organizations, accredited nursing colleges, home-health agencies, living communities, and other facilities and services that span the continuum of care. In fiscal year 2016, CHI provided more than $1.1 billion in financial assistance and community benefit - a 13% increase over the previous year -- for programs and services for the poor, free clinics, education and research. Financial assistance and community benefit totaled more than $2 billion with the inclusion of the unpaid costs of Medicare. The health system, which generated operating revenues of $15.9 billion in fiscal year 2016, has total assets of approximately $22.7 billion.
Thank you, Catholic Health Initiatives, for partnering with CEF to support small business growth and development in Colorado's rural and urban communities.