Q2
2017
ISSUE
No. 2
leveraging our impact  

how federal CDFI funding impacts colorado

Ceyl Prinster
President and CEO
With new administrations come new priorities. It's a reminder to community development financial institutions (CDFIs) like CEF and others nationwide to keep sharing our stories of impact about the disadvantaged communities we support through access to capital, housing, healthcare and jobs.

We were pleased the Congress and Senate approved continued funding of the CDFI Fund for the remainder of the FY 2017 budget year at a record level:  $248 million, a $15 million (6.2 percent) increase from FY 2016.

We continue our bipartisan advocacy efforts to ensure the CDFI Fund remains in the FY 2018 budget despite proposals to eliminate it. Click here to read our industry association's letter against elimination of the Fund. Click here to read how our Colorado bank partners support the work of CDFIs and the CDFI Fund. Please contact your elected representatives to vote to keep it in the budget. 

Thank you!

borrower buzz | mawa's kitchen

Mawa McQueen Founder and Owner
Some times you know you can do better being your own boss. That's what Mawa McQueen realized after working as a restaurant manager. "There was just too much bureaucracy," Mawa recalled. "I had no clue how to start a business on my own, but wanted the freedom to do that." 

Mawa began her business as M&M Home Dining Services, an in-house personal catering service located in Aspen. When the recession hit and people cut back on private chefs, Mawa and her husband rebranded her business to become more full-service with a cafe, naming it Mawa's Kitchen.

Click here to see how Mawa grew her culinary empire successfully with help from CEF and its in-house team of small business consultants.

cef is colorado community/rural lender of the year
 
CEF staff at SBA award ceremony in Denver:
Alisa Zimmerman, Alan Ramirez and Marcia Johnston-Walden
On May 3, Colorado Enterprise Fund (CEF) received the Colorado Community/Rural Lender of the Year award from the US Small Business Administration's (SBA) Colorado office during National Small Business Week. Other 2017 award winners included former CEF borrower, Maria Empanada owner Lorena Cantavorici, who was named Colorado Small Business Person of the Year and CEF Advisory Board partner,  Mi Casa Women's Business Center, which won national, regional and state Business Center of Excellence awards. For  a complete list of 2017 SBA awardees in Colorado, click here

partner profile | catholic health initiatives
  
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.

 
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