Podcasts about reinvestment fund

President Trump inherited an economy that was, at least in the aggregate, performing exceptionally well. Since taking office, however, the stock market has fallen, and there are heightened expectations of a slowdown due to the policies, and uncertainty from the shifts in policies, of the new Administration. Are these concerns well-founded? Or will tariffs, cuts to government jobs, and deregulation help usher in a stronger economy? Mark Zandi considers these issues on EconoFact Chats. Mark is Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics. He serves on the board of directors of MGIC, the nation's largest private mortgage insurance company, and is the lead director of Reinvestment Fund, one of the nation's largest community development financial institutions.

Tommy Lester, manager of Atlanta Initiatives for Capital Impact Partners and David Greisman, spokesperson for Capital Impact Partners, join host Carol Morgan for this week's Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio episode. In this podcast segment, Lester and Greisman discuss the Equitable Development Initiative. Born and raised in Atlanta, Lester has over 25 years of experience in banking, financing and investing in the area's rich real estate. Greisman joined Capital Impact Partners a few years ago, bringing a fresh perspective to the mission-driven institution. Capital Impact Partners is a community development financial institution that seeks to provide community organizations with the necessary financing to thrive. What does that look like? Capital Impact Partners helps developers combine affordable housing, better access to healthcare and education, healthier food selection and cooperative developments. It works with its sister organization, CDC Small Business Finance, to specifically assist small businesses. The Equitable Development Initiative (EDI) is an excellent way for emerging real estate developers to come together and learn new tips and tricks of the trade. Previously successful in Detroit, Washington D.C., the San Fransico Bay area and Dallas, Texas, this nine-month program encourages developers to continue their education and connect with others in the field. Lester said, “It helps people get their businesses in line to be able to accept funding from major sources and do bigger deals,” said Lester. “At the same time, it exposes them to lenders and funders who are ideal for them, whether it's because of their project type or their social mission.” Throughout the program, Capital Impact Partners works with real estate developers to take their projects to the next level through various aspects like financing, site acquisition and more. Applicants should be established in the real estate industry; this cohort program is not for individuals looking to break into development. This year, 35 applications were turned in, and the list of 15 finalists will be published soon. “We're really strategic about making sure that the people that are part of the program are from this community,” said Lester. “It's not open nationwide, it's open to people specifically from here.” Capital Impact Partners is proud to work with numerous local partners in Atlanta, including House ATL, Reinvestment Fund and the Wells Fargo Foundation's Growing Diverse Housing Developers program. Together, these institutions and organizations serve metro Atlanta in DeKalb, Clayton, Cobb, Fulton, Gwinnett and Douglasville counties. By targeting areas of growth, Capital Impact and its partners can ensure that the needs of these communities are met. Greisman said, “We've seen people who are committed to affordable housing come in and be able to grow their businesses and do more to help the communities.” How does the EDI program contribute on a larger scale? A pre-course evaluation gives instructors and speakers a starting point for each participant. Individual strengths and weaknesses are noted and then re-evaluated at the end of the nine-month cohort. Participants then present their projects to an audience and are judged on quality and other factors. “Every unit and every building that these developers work on is helping be part of the solution,” said Greisman. “Again, it is a very complex ongoing issue, but being able to help these local developers is going to provide part of that solution and help the people who really are the backbone of these communities.” Tune in to the full interview above to learn more about Capital Impact Partners, or visit www.CapitalImpact.org. A special thank you to Denim Marketing for sponsoring Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio. Known as a trendsetter, Denim Marketing has been blogging since 2006 and podcasting since 2011. It is currently working on strategies for the Google Helpful Content update and ways to incor...

Today we're talking about who has access to full-service supermarkets in America's cities, suburbs, small towns and rural communities. According to The Reinvestment Fund's "2023 Limited Supermarket Access Analysis Report," 8.5% of people in the US live in areas with limited access to full-service supermarkets. This means that families must travel further to get fresh foods, and it creates a barrier to adequate nutrition. This is the 10th year The Reinvestment Fund has published the "Supermarket Access Report," which provides data and context about grocery store access across the country. Here to discuss the latest figures is policy and analyst Michael Norton.   Interview Summary   This is a really interesting and kind of nuanced topic, so I'm happy we can talk about it in some detail. Why don't we just start off with kind of a broad question. What do we know now about areas of limited supermarket access in the US? Kelly, I think the big thing to take away at the very beginning is that the share of people living in places that would be considered low access is roughly the same as it's been over the past 10 years. We have about 8.5% of the population living in low-access areas across the country. That's pretty consistent to what it's been for over a decade. But what's important is that how low-access areas are distributed across the country varies quite a bit. And where they exist, the density of the populations where they exist, really informs the kinds of interventions that are available for addressing these needs. These vary considerably in different parts of the country and at different geographic scales. And what I mean by that is suburban areas, rural areas, and then some of the most remote areas across the country. So we do have a sort of consistent number or share of people. The actual number has gone up a little bit because the population has continued to increase. They become distributed in different ways that follow different kinds of development patterns, on the one hand. But then also places where you end up getting patterns of residential and racial segregation in more developed parts of the country.   It's so interesting. So, given that the average has stayed essentially the same over the 10 years you've been doing the reports, have there been pressures pulling in either direction that might have changed over the years? So, for example, are there pressures that are making access to full-service supermarkets less likely? Are they pulling out of some places, for example? And might that offset by some positive developments in other areas? So, while the average stays the same, the contours look different? I think the way to think about that is that we see a lot of expansion of low-access areas in the big metro areas that are expanding the fastest. So, the biggest increases in populations living with limited access are in big state in the South and out west in places like Arizona, Nevada, Texas, where you have these large metros that are growing at a really rapid rate. And the reason for that is that oftentimes residential development will show up before commercial development. So, in those kinds of places, food retail is trailing behind residential development. And probably those places are going to be well served by the time we update this analysis again in four or five years because of what those development patterns look like, right? So, when you're building more houses in more urban and remote areas, there's still folks who are first in buying out in those places. They're still going to have to go a long way to get their groceries for a few years until supermarket identifies this as a place where there's going to be enough demand for us to put one of our Krogers or Targets or Walmarts or what have you. But we've also seen, and this is more common in urban places, is the expansion of these low-access areas that have smaller populations, right? And so these are places with between 1,000 and 5,000 residents where folks are still having to go disproportionately far to get access to a full-service grocery store. Sometimes this is because stores have pulled out in these places because of limited demand, historically. And that limited demand is mostly because folks don't have as much income to spend on their groceries, right? And we see these little areas popping up within metro areas and even in some close-in suburbs and places across the country. And so you have sort of these bigger LSA areas, which have at least 5,000 residents on the outer edges of a lot of metros and in some within the cities, but mostly within the cities. It's these smaller, limited access, low population areas. And this differentiation of the type of low-access area is something that we introduced in this update to our analysis that previously wasn't available. It provided a really nice nuance to understanding what limited access to supermarkets looks like going forward, both within urban places, suburban places, and in some of these really remote parts of the country. So, based on this research, what does it tell us about the future of insecurity in the United States? I think what it really tells us is that it depends on where you live and what kind of community you live in and what that's going to look like. I think the ability to provide a little bit more nuance around who has access and when they have limited access, what about their community is going to inform the response to ensuring that folks are able to get what they need. In places where they are these traditional sorts of limited supermarket access areas where you have at least 5,000 people, they can become pretty good candidates for operating a full-service store, right? But when you think about urban parts of the country where you've had central business districts or neighborhoods sort of hollowing out in different places and local supermarket is closed, but there aren't enough people there living to support a full-service store, different kinds of interventions are required, right? And then in these really remote parts of the country where you don't have very many residents, but you have at least a thousand, but people are living a long way away from each other, how do you serve those places? Because some of them, these are very small towns, right? And there are people who have been living there and if the grocery store closed, then they have to drive 35-40 miles to the next town, right? That becomes a real challenge for their general way of life. I think really thinking about the future of food access and food insecurity in this country really has to have a geographic nuance to it in thinking about the appropriate responses that are going to meet the needs of people living in different parts of the country. So, how does your study inform investments do address food insecurity? Reinvestment Fund has a very active retail portfolio, both on our lending side, and Reinvestment Fund is also the national fund manager for USDA's Healthy Food Finance Initiative. These two avenues through which we make loans to increase access to fresh food and through USDA's HFFI program are opportunities to innovate. The USDA's Healthy Food Finance Initiative is both a grant-making and a lending program that is designed to identify innovative responses to access to fresh food in these different types of areas. So, we're able to use the results of these analyses to identify places where you can align the kinds of programs that people are proposing. Whether that's a small format store in a city where their primary supermarket has closed, whether it's a mobile market that is serving folks who live very far distances from their nearest food retailer, or whether it's setting up a aggregation site that is not just food retail but sometimes is attached to a healthcare center or a hospital where people are also making regular trips. These become opportunities for us to support innovative approaches and also try out different things. Once you start to get some information from successful programs that are coming out of the grant program, as they become investible and scalable at a store level when you become ready to take on debt to expand your operation or open a store in a place that typical operators aren't willing to go. So, let me ask you a question about the Healthy Food Financing Initiative. With politics being so partisan these days, is this a partisan issue as well, or is there bipartisan support for things like this? This is the good news part of access to fresh food. It really is a bipartisan issue. Healthy Food Finance Initiative was created under the Obama Administration, was expanded under the Trump Administration and has been expanded even more under the Biden Administration. Each subsequent farm bill has expanded the capital available for the Healthy Food Finance Initiative, with the goal to try and figure out how do we meet the food access needs of everybody in this country in a way that provides a signal to private market operators that they can be successful in these places. That really is a bit of good news, and I'm really happy to hear that. But I also wanted to ask you, are there options aside from full-service supermarkets to help address some of these matters you're discussing? Absolutely, absolutely. And these are things like smaller format stores, almost like a corner store but that operates like a healthy food market. And these are really appropriate in places where there are limited access, low population, and sort of filling in pockets inside urban communities and close-in suburbs. There are mobile market options that are popping up in different places. Food aggregation hubs that will be cited within the center of a low-access area where people can come to a central location and having purchased food online that shows up and then people can come and pick it up. There's expanding delivery options to more remote parts of the country. So, there is a wide diversity of models that are proliferating beyond just bricks and mortar traditional grocery stores. It's really the job of HFFI to seed these initiatives, identify the ones that are doing really well, and then work with the folks who created them and then others to scale them down the road into places that are not served by food retailers. I think you've helped answer the next question I was going to ask, which is how does this research help policy makers and practitioners think about addressing food insecurity in their community? There's a fair amount of tailoring that could go on where you're trying to meet the needs of a specific community. That's right. And I think one of the things that's important to keep in mind is the role that financial institutions like Reinvestment Fund play in making this possible. So, Reinvestment Fund is a community development financial institution, which is best understood as like a nonprofit bank. And these exist across the country and are more or less active in different markets, but they're really focused on working in a very deliberate, hands-on way with our borrowers to create access to fresh food in places where it's not going to be easy, right? Because if it was easy, all the big food retailers would be there, right? So, we have to be patient. You have to find someone who's willing to take a chance operating the store, to help them develop their business plan, help them identify all of the ins and outs that go with standing up a food retail business, and then work with them throughout the process of them sort of getting access to capital and making their business work. And that work is a lot more work than what is required to finance a new grocery store that is run by Target or run by Walmart, Krogers or something like that. This is a critical role that the CDFI industry is playing and increasingly recognized at the federal level as a resource for deploying public subsidies through the private market into the hands of operators who are going to make it work in places where traditional food retailers and capital just won't go. Let me ask a big-picture question. and this is a little complicated in my own mind. So, we're sort of defaulting in a way to the idea that full-service supermarkets providing access to such things for more people is a good outcome. And from a social justice point of view, it's unquestionably true that people who live in different sets of financial circumstances should still have access to things that people in better financial circumstances have. But in terms of nutritional outcome, having access to a full-service supermarket brings a lot more than just the healthy foods. And in today's modern full-service supermarket, the highly processed, less healthy options must outnumber the healthy ones 10 to 1, 20 to 1, 50 to 1? I have no idea what the number is, but it's enormous. And so, providing government support and financial incentives for a big store to come in is providing access to a lot more than healthy foods may have adverse nutritional outcomes rather than positive ones, unless you're just sort of agnostic about the type of food that people are getting access to, that any food is better than nothing if you have food insecurity. But I wonder how one might address that. And whether one could think about providing resources that were structured differently to encourage smaller stores, for example, that focus on more healthy options and fewer of the less healthy ones. And then you might get the social justice part addressed at the same time you're having a better nutritional outcome. Kelly, that's such a good question, and one that we wrangle with all the time. Because there is actually fairly limited evidence to suggest that access to fresh food is going to lead people to make healthier choices about what they consume. One of the sort of operating assumptions is that in the absence of access, you're not going to make healthy choices. And once there is at least access, the possibility for making healthier choices increases from, zero to something, whatever it is that is going to be motivating individuals how they go about making choices for the foods that they consume. And it is a very tricky relationship that folks in the food industry grapple with all the time as well in the medical profession. I think from a grant-making standpoint and a financing standpoint, Reinvestment Fund's position is always that whoever is receiving support through our programs or from our lending capital is offering a selection that meets what you would consider healthy food retail options, right? That there is an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh produce, fresh meats and dairy, in that also with the understanding that almost all food retailers are also going to offer less healthy options. That is a constant tension within the field. And figuring out how to encourage behavioral change by consumers is sort of beyond the ability of HFFI to move. What we can do is ensure that the organizations and the individuals who we support are offering a variety of healthy options for the patrons that are coming into their locations.   BIO   Michael Norton, Ph.D., serves as Chief Policy Analyst at Reinvestment Fund, and supports all research related to Reinvestment Fund's organizational goals and mission. In this role Dr. Norton works closely with a range partners, including small non-profit organizations, local and national philanthropies, private companies, colleges and universities, school districts, federal, state, and city governments and agencies. His work leverages nearly a decade of experience as researcher and project director to develop data driven solutions – solutions that meet the unique needs of Reinvestment Fund and our key stakeholders in the public and private sectors. Dr. Norton completed his doctoral studies in the Sociology Department at Temple University, where his research examined the relationship between secondary mortgage market activity and neighborhood change in the Philadelphia region at the turn of the 21st century. Prior to joining Reinvestment Fund in 2015, Dr. Norton served as a Senior Research Associate at Research for Action in Philadelphia. In this role, he led and co-led a range of mixed-methods evaluations of educational reform initiatives and policies at the local and state levels.

Millions of Americans trying to buy a first home have been grappling with unaffordable home prices and high mortgage rates. And it is not just those looking to buy a home, those renting a place to live are also facing increases in rent with a significant decline in affordable units. Has the American dream of home ownership disappeared and when or how can this change? FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Emily Dowdall, President of Policy Solutions at Reinvestment Fund, who explains how home prices became so unaffordable and how they can be lowered. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millions of Americans trying to buy a first home have been grappling with unaffordable home prices and high mortgage rates. And it is not just those looking to buy a home, those renting a place to live are also facing increases in rent with a significant decline in affordable units. Has the American dream of home ownership disappeared and when or how can this change? FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Emily Dowdall, President of Policy Solutions at Reinvestment Fund, who explains how home prices became so unaffordable and how they can be lowered. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Millions of Americans trying to buy a first home have been grappling with unaffordable home prices and high mortgage rates. And it is not just those looking to buy a home, those renting a place to live are also facing increases in rent with a significant decline in affordable units. Has the American dream of home ownership disappeared and when or how can this change? FOX's Eben Brown speaks with Emily Dowdall, President of Policy Solutions at Reinvestment Fund, who explains how home prices became so unaffordable and how they can be lowered. Click Here To Follow 'The FOX News Rundown: Evening Edition' Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The federal government's debt is just under 100 percent of GDP – and it is projected to grow to 115 percent of GDP in a decade, and 180 percent of GDP in thirty years.  Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, discusses the reasons debt increased significantly before the pandemic, its dramatic rise since then, and its expected further increase. He also explains how high debt adversely affects people's living standards as well as the ability of the government to respond to both ongoing needs and future economic crises. He offers some proposals for dealing with the debt, including a carbon tax, raising the payroll tax on high-income individuals, and establishing a bipartisan commission to address the country's fiscal challenges. Along with his role as Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, Mark also serves on the Board of Directors of MGIC, the nations largest private mortgage insurance company and is the lead director of the Reinvestment Fund, one of the nation's largest community development financial institutions that makes investments in underserved communities.

The federal government's debt is just under 100 percent of GDP – and it is projected to grow to 115 percent of GDP in a decade, and 180 percent of GDP in thirty years.  Mark Zandi, Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, discusses the reasons debt increased significantly before the pandemic, its dramatic rise since then, and its expected further increase. He also explains how high debt adversely affects people's living standards as well as the ability of the government to respond to both ongoing needs and future economic crises. He offers some proposals for dealing with the debt, including a carbon tax, raising the payroll tax on high-income individuals, and establishing a bipartisan commission to address the country's fiscal challenges. Along with his role as Chief Economist at Moody's Analytics, Mark also serves on the Board of Directors of MGIC, the nations largest private mortgage insurance company and is the lead director of the Reinvestment Fund, one of the nation's largest community development financial institutions that makes investments in underserved communities.

Patricia Wellenbach, President & CEO of the Please Touch Museum and Board Chair for Jefferson Health Systems, shared the story behind her title with us on May 17, 2023.Patricia (Trish) D. Wellenbach is the President and CEO of the Please Touch Museum, one of the country's leading children's museums located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia. The museum welcomes over 500,000 visitors a year and facilitates early childhood learning and development through play through its exhibits, and education and special programs.She is formerly President and CEO of Green Tree School and Services, an agency located in Philadelphia that serves children ages 5‐21 who are on the autism spectrum or are severely emotionally disabled.She was Founder, President, and CEO of Sandcastle Strategy Group LLC, a company providing management consulting services to clients primarily in the health care, small business and non‐profit sectors. She previously served as Managing Director for Business Development & Strategy, at Granary Associates; and as Executive Director of The Wellness Community of Philadelphia (now Cancer Support Community of Philadelphia).Ms. Wellenbach started her professional career as registered nurse and clinical instructor of obstetrics at Pennsylvania Hospital. In 2016 she was appointed to the Mayors Cultural Advisory Board. In 2018 she received the City and State PA Above and Beyond Award honoring women of public and civic minds. From 2010-2017, Ms. Wellenbach was a board member of the Reinvestment Fund, a Community Development Financing Institution, where she chaired the audit committee, and was a member of the executive committee and of the governance committee. She was a Trustee of Abington Health from 2005‐2015.In addition, Ms. Wellenbach currently serves as a member of The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Women Corporate Directors, PA Women's Forum and Forum of Executive Woman, as well as Director of the NACD Philadelphia Chapter Board.SUE SAYS"Trish grew up in a small town in NJ as an Irish Catholic and the oldest of five. She felt a sense of responsibility to lean in and help where needed and would take that leading role with her throughout life. Her grandmother played an important role in shaping who Trish would go on to become, and she remains forever grateful for having had her in her life."Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/women-to-watch-r/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Citizen contributor and WURD host Charles Ellison talks with Ira Goldstein of Reinvestment Fund about the impact this housing market is having on tenants, long-time residents, and potential homeowners.

Description Can you support regenerative economies, community-controlled investment, and still earn a reasonable return? What would you do if you suddenly had $2 million? Take it easy? Retire early? Maybe buy that custom vintage car you've been eyeing for years? None of the Renegade Capital crew have had to grapple with that particular question, so we decided to talk to someone who has. In this episode, we talk with Kate Poole, whose journey from inheriting a trust fund to becoming an “anti-capitalist” wealth manager provides a totally unique perspective on how people with means can leverage their capital.About Kate.Kate Poole takes a unique perspective on what it takes to build a just economy. With her business partner, Tiffany Brown, she co-founded Chordata Capital, an “anti-capitalist” wealth management firm that supports clients in redistributing rather than continuing to accumulate wealth. With a background in organizing and agitating in the impact investing field, Kate partners with young people with inherited wealth to transform their investment portfolios. Kate also co-founded Regenerative Finance in 2014 to organize other inheritors to shift control of capital to frontline communities; has worked in the local investing ecosystem since 2009; has been a member of Resource Generation since 2013; and now, with much thanks from us, is an official Renegade Capital alumni.A renegade not only listens but acts. We've consolidated a few tips from this episode to help you invest in local communities.Be honest & vulnerable about what you want to do with your investments: Tell others about your goal to invest in local communities. Don't be shy about your class background. When others learn about your plans, they may share opportunities and introduce you to people that can help you.If you inherit money, first learn what's permitted:  Some inheritances are in vehicles that aren't easily transferrable (ex: trusts). Learn how the inheritance is structured, what you're allowed to do, who the decision-makers are (if any), and what your organizing strategy should be if there are other decision-makers.Take your time: Don't rush, but move at a pace where you feel grounded and at peace.Connect with others who share your values and goals: Consider joining groups to see how others have invested their money. Organizations like Resource Generation, a nonprofit that organizes young people with wealth and class privilege, can be helpful.See where larger organizations are investing: Some organizations like Calvert Impact Capital and the Reinvestment Fund are supporting small communities across the country and world. You can start your research by seeing where and how they have invested.Contact Chordata Capital to learn how you can get started: If you want to redistribute your wealth, contact Kate and Tiffany Brown's firm, Chordata Capital. (Note: Check out Kate's cartoon that explains more about her personal investing journey here)Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/renegadecappod)

The City and Reinvestment Fund's Food Justice Initiative is looking for community-driven solutions to historic food injustice in Philly.

On this episode of the Impact Real Estate Podcast, we speak with the Executive Vice President at Alliant Capital, Dudley Benoit. Dudley breaks down the x's and o's of the tax credit scene and tells us why he believes there has been an uptick in demand for more affordable housing. If one of your career goals is to do well and do good at the same time, this is an episode you do not want to miss. EPISODE NOTES:02:20 - What is Alliant Capital? Do well and do good. 05:18 - An allocation of tax credits 08:01 - The investor relations team -- a relatively small universe 10:40 - Avoiding math like the plague 13:02 - A sales culture and mindset 15:10 - Thinking strategically about business school 16:56 - Unique in the space 20:42 - More demand for affordable housing22:37 - A bipartisan product 24:29 - Predictions for the future 25:55 - The Hot Seat presented by KK ResetDudley Benoit is Alliant's Executive Vice President. He is responsible for the LIHTC production teams of Originations and Investor Relations, and setting and implementing company strategy as a member of Alliant's Executive Committee. He has over 20 years of experience in the community development and real estate finance fields.Prior to joining Alliant, Dudley worked at Santander Bank as a Senior Vice President and Director of Community Development Finance. He also held senior management positions at JPMorgan Chase in the commercial real estate multifamily lending, community development banking and the New Markets Tax Credit units. He serves on the Board of Reinvestment Fund.A graduate of Rutgers University, Dudley also holds a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan's Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia University.

In this episode of “On The Hill,” Tim Rood, SitusAMC Head of Industry Relations, talks with Mark Zandi, Chief Economist of Moody's Analytics, about the crisis in affordable housing and the government's role in tackling the issue. “We've gone nowhere on homeownership for decades,” Zandi said. “That's a problem, particularly for lower-income Americans of color, because homeownership is the most critical way to building wealth.” Zandi is a cofounder of Economy.com, which Moody's purchased in 2005. He serves on the board of directors of MGIC, the nation's largest private mortgage insurance company, and is lead director of “Reinvestment Fund,” one of the nation's largest community development financial institutions. Zandi frequently testifies before Congress and is often quoted in national and global publications, and interviewed by news media including CNBC, NPR, Meet the Press, CNN, and more. He also hosts the “Inside Economics” podcast.

How do you reduce the incarceration and detention of youth of color, lift up their strengths, and make a community safer? In this podcast, Dr. Assata Richards speaks personally and passionately about how the Redefining Youth Justice Coalition successfully advocated for the creation of a Youth Justice Community Reinvestment Fund in Harris County, Texas, comprised of $2 million in funds redirected from juvenile probation and $2 million from the county's General Fund. Dr. Richards uses the metaphor of making a pot of gumbo—layering ingredients and patiently nurturing the pot—to describe how the coalition brought together impacted youth and families and local and national partners to learn, organize, advocate together, and work through tension points with compassion and care. With a commitment to “power with,” not “power over,” they kept a laser focus on their shared vision and created relationships and resources for a continuum of care that is sure to nourish the community. This podcast was made possible with support from The Langeloth Foundation.

In this episode, we hear from Dr. Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, where he directs economic research. He is also the lead director of Reinvestment Fund, one of the nation’s largest community development financial institutions, which makes investments in underserved communities. He discusses the rising risk of inflation and upcoming spending bills. 

Guest: John O’Callaghan, President and CEO of Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP). Atlanta is famous for the ebb and flow of its real estate market. And, while some parts of the metro area are certainly doing well, some parts of the market are still feeling the impact of the 2008 foreclosure crisis.Atlanta is famous for the ebb and flow of its real estate market. And, while some parts of the metro area are certainly doing well, some parts of the market are still feeling the impact of the 2008 foreclosure crisis.@ANDPINC#2KBY25 ANDP Business Plan - Executive SummaryPrior to the COVID-19 pandemic, metro Atlanta’s housing affordability challenge had already reached a crisis state – rental costs have increased 48% since 2010, far outpacing wage growth in the region, and 72% of metro Atlanta households spend 45% or more of their income on housing and transportation costs. To address this growing crisis, ANDP will develop and preserve at least 2,000 units of affordable housing by 2025, including an anticipated 1,250 apartments and 750 single-family homes. The vast number of multifamily units will be new construction while our single-family work predominantly focuses on affordable preservation for existing homes. ANDP aims to leverage $18 million of charitable grants to draw down $46 million of US Treasury and other nationally competitive funding sources; $177 million of Federal and State Low Income Housing Tax Credits; $38 million of local and state government funding along with below market and market debt to deliver projects totaling $438 million in total development costs.Today’s dialogue on racial injustice and inequities, and the current pandemic highlighted the need to address race-based inequities in our housing system. The combined health and economic impacts of COVID-19 are particularly devastating to the largely African American communities we serve throughout metro Atlanta with a focus on neighborhoods south of I-20 and along the I-85 corridor. Addressing the long-term impacts of systemic racism within housing systems is central to our work. New resources are forming for affordable housing, and our staff and Board keenly feel the responsibilities of this moment. The time is now – and with new investment dollars, ANDP is prepared to execute an ambitious and thoughtful campaign to build and preserve homes, stabilize families and neighborhoods, and invest future resources by again doubling our production over a multi-year period.ATLANTA’S AFFORDABLE HOUSING CLIMATEThe mission of ANDP is to promote, create and preserve mixed-income communities through direct development, lending, policy research and advocacy that result in the equitable distribution of affordable housing throughout the metropolitan Atlanta region. ANDP plays an important role in the affordable housing ecosystem by providing needed production scale through its public and private partnerships and by working collaboratively to support strategies and efforts to address critical housing needs in metro Atlanta.ANDP serves a majority low-income, Black population through its housing development, lending, and policy/advocacy work and is addressing the gap between lagging wage growth and high housing costs by helping to build wealth in disinvested communities. The decline in Black homeownership contributes more than any other issue to the growing wealth gap between Blacks and Whites. The median wealth of White families is ten times higher than that of Black households and the pandemic has the potential to devastate Black homeowners, threatening to further widen the racial wealth gap. Civil rights advocates and political leaders are calling for immediate policy solutions at the federal level to expand Black homeownership and address affordable housing. High-capacity and nimble nonprofit developers, likeANDP, will need to be well-positioned to leverage an anticipated influx of federal funding to meet metro Atlanta’s pressing housing challenges.Prior to the pandemic, Atlanta affordable housing advocates were well-poised to make significant investments in addressing the city’s growing affordable housing crisis. House ATL, a cross-sector group of civic leaders, is shedding light on the importance of subsidizing affordable housing, Atlanta Housing (AH) has resumed multifamily development activity on their properties, and place-based developers such as Westside Future Fund (WFF), Quest CDC, Focused Community Strategies (FCS), SUMMECH and Grove Park Foundation are increasing their production levels as well. Additionally, the number of housing-focused Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in the Atlanta market has expanded and social impact investors like the Community Foundation’s GoATL fund and the new Atlanta Affordable Housing Fund (AAHF) have also initiated lending in the market. Both funds made their first investments with ANDP to support our single-family development efforts.In a post-COVID-19 environment, metro Atlanta’s housing needs are greater than ever before, but market uncertainties could put nonprofit capacity at serious risk. Under threat of recession, charitable funding is impacted, development pipelines are delayed, rental collections are down, and some nonprofits are showing reluctance to take on debt to finance new projects. The last recession decimated Atlanta’s nonprofit housing sector.ANDP MODELThrough innovative partnerships and financing, ANDP has developed a low-risk model for scaled development of affordable housing and is well-situated to meet the affordable housing needs of the metro Atlanta region. While simple, our model is surprisingly innovative and has informed multiple nonprofit leaders from outside Atlanta.Since 2009, we have significantly increased our annual production from 6 units to 440 units in development today while at the same time reducing staffing and overhead costs. Mission and risk aligned partnerships have been critical to our stewardship, execution, and ability to grow scale. Within our multifamily work, we are utilizing our land assets to build partnerships and increase production from one project every three to five years to three projects in the current year alone. Additionally, our loan fund has tripled in size over the term of our innovative partnership with Reinvestment Fund, one of the nation’s top CDFIs. We’ve significantly grown our single-family work utilizing a risk-sharing partnership model with strongly vetted general contractors that incentivizes positive mission and budget outcomes.It is through strategic partnerships with nonprofits and for-profits with deep business line or geographic expertise that we are able to fill gaps in the region and adapt to changing needs. Where the place-based developers are focused exclusively within specific City neighborhoods like the Westside, historic South Atlanta and Northwest, ANDP covers underserved neighborhoods throughout the City and we often lead in suburban areas like South DeKalb where place-based quarterbacks do not exist. We serve as a single- family developer to two Atlanta place-based leaders including the Annie E. Casey Foundation in the Pittsburgh neighborhood and the Westside Future Fund on the Westside of Atlanta. Our multifamily plan seeks to build in places not normally served by LIHTC and provides permanent affordability.With a broad expertise, set of partners, and business lines, we are able to quickly respond to market changes and act on opportunities as they become available. Capital innovation has been particularly critical to our growth. ANDP has pioneered the use of U.S. Treasury Department Capital Market and New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) program funds for scattered-site, single-family homeownership while saving an additional $8,000 per home by utilizing enterprise-level debt from banks and Social Impact Funds.ANDP utilizes local and national connections to not only fill gaps but affect systems change. Working initially with The Home Depot Foundation and the Federal Reserve Bank, ANDP coordinated a community wide response to the foreclosure crisis and was the first nonprofit producer to shift its production to acquisition and rehab of foreclosed homes. Last year, we partnered with the Urban Institute, National Housing Conference and local stakeholders to focus coordinated attention to metro Atlanta’s Black homeownership crisis. We support the City’s growing place-based infrastructure through our lending and single-family development and provide unique leadership in places like South DeKalb, where we have partnered with the County CEO and multiple stakeholders as part of our $20 million 100- home South DeKalb investment plan.SINGLE-FAMILY DEVELOPMENTThe power of ANDP’s model of coupling capital innovation with mission and risk aligned partnerships is most pronounced in our single family development work. Having grown our annual production from 6 homes in 2009 to 120 homes today, ANDP is now one of the largest local nonprofit producers of affordable single family homes nationally. Over the past decade, we have been the largest developer of quality rehabbed and new construction homes at price points of $170,000 or less in the largely Black communities we serve. We have documented an average wealth creation of $88,797 for ANDP homeowners and larger benefits to neighborhoods. Widening homeownership gaps are key drivers of race-based wealth, family stability, health and other inequities.Over the next five years, ANDP will develop or preserve 750 single family homes. We anticipate 500 homes will be sold to low-and-moderate income homebuyers and 250 homes will be initially used for single-family rental. Single-family rental units owned and managed by mission-oriented, nonprofits help to preserve long-term affordability, particularly in rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods. Our three program channels for the 500 homeownership units include 102 homes funded by Federal HUD dollars allocated through 7 local governments, 85 homes developed for and funded by place-based quarterbacks like WFF and the Annie E. Casey Foundation and 313 homes with our private-sector contractor partners.ANDP has a strong history of successfully raising public subsidy sources and has successfully competed for $20 million in NMTCs. Working in partnership with others, we have implemented a plan to develop additional NMTC funding streams for single-family homeownership projects and anticipate winning awards totaling $35 million over the next five years.MULTIFAMILYANDP will develop 1,250 apartments through development partnerships with proven private sector LIHTC developers. Partners are selected based on their respect for ANDP’s role, shared mission objectives and extensive property and asset management background. ANDP minimizes operational and financial risks by placing most financial risks, including assumptions of all financial guarantees, on our private partner. Ninety percent or more of the multifamily rental units will meet LIHTC rent and income guidelines which allow income averaging up to 80% AMI with mean income of 60% AMI or less.Lessons learned from swift market increases in land and unprecedented displacement of low-income renters in the City of Atlanta have forged ANDP’s increased resolve to ensure longer term to permanent affordability for its multifamily rental projects. We plan to extend affordability and ensure long-term use of land to support affordable and mixed income housing by requiring a nonprofit right of first refusal and through a 65 to 99 year ground lease.ANDP is targeting two-thirds or more of its multifamily rental production (934 units) for the City of Atlanta. The City has experienced the region’s largest percentage drop in affordable rental homes as nine out of ten rental units produced in 2017 were classified as luxury. Our multifamily rental residents rely heavily on MARTA which has the majority of its rail and bus connections in the City. The City is also at high risk for future land appreciation and resulting displacement of low-income residents and will benefit most from our efforts to ensure longer term or permanent affordability of the land.ANDP has worked to better connect its residents to services offered by other nonprofit and governmental partners at its Delowe Village and Stanton Crest properties located in the City of East Point, and at Martin House Apartments in the Adamsville neighborhood (Southwest Atlanta). As we expand our multifamily portfolio, we will enhance our resident services strategy to link service providers to our properties in a more comprehensive wayANDP LOAN FUNDLeveraging ANDP’s CDFI Loan Fund (ALF) and underutilized FHLB grants is central to our strategy. ANDP’s ability to leverage low-cost bank and impact fund debt for its scaling single-family production relies heavily on balance sheet strength. ALF’s net assets are critical to ANDP’s overall financial strength. This strength was critical to developing the internal single- family rotating fund needed to reduce construction lending costs and access the US Treasury CMF and NMTC programs.ANDP will utilize Down Payment Assistance (DPA) is to ensure first mortgage payments are affordable for ANDP’s home buyers. Our membership in the FHLB now provides us with the opportunity to deploy up to $1 million per year in $5,000 - $10,000 forgivable grants through the ANDP Loan Fund. We are budgeting $600,000 to cover overhead costs (likely third-party provider costs) needed to secure and deploy $4M to $6M of FHLB nonprofit project grants and homebuyer down payment assistance.STAFFING AND FUNDRAISINGANDP’s 5-year plan is predicated on our ability to incrementally grow our lean and highly efficient staffing structure. Through the growth of our private sector partnership model and partnership with Reinvestment Fund, we have increased our organizational production and capacity despite downsizing from a full-time staff of 21 employees in 2006 to 15 full-time employees today. We foresee hiring four new staff in the Housing Development department and an additional employee in our Accounting department throughout the plan period.ANDP’s $438 million investment plan to produce and preserve 2,000 units of affordable housing by 2025 entails leveraging $18 million in philanthropic capital. We anticipate early commitments from existing, historic funders for the philanthropic campaign. ANDP has long-standing relationships with several banks which share a CRA focus on affordable housing and veteran housing organizations. Local health systems that have recently made a commitment to housing will also be key prospects. We have been identified as a key recipient of the Beloved Event which was delayed until 2021 due to COVID-19. The inaugural Beloved Benefit raised over $5 million to directly benefit selected nonprofits. In addition, we anticipate commitments from family foundations and trusteed-foundations in additional to philanthropic partners that have been keenly focused on displacement in the City of Atlanta as well as racial disparities across metro Atlanta.

Christmas came early this year for the Philadelphia School District. The University of Pennsylvania pledged $100 million to go toward fixing unsafe school buildings. Over the next decade, the Ivy League institution will send $10 million to city schools each year.  Activist leaders on campus and across the city have called for a donation like this for a long time. They want Penn to pay payments in lieu of taxes, known as PILOTs, calling foul on the regulations that allow a nonprofit that owns $3.2 billion in city real estate to skip property taxes. Like the tax dollars contributed by other property owners in the city, their payments could towards public schools and infrastructure, these critics say. Emily Dowdall, policy director of Reinvestment Fund, says the university has instead chosen to invest in public amenities in its own backyard, like the Penn-funded elementary school in West Philadelphia where university employees and their neighbors in the area can now send their children. She explains why Penn is now turning its attention to the school district as a whole and the difference the donation could make.

Dana Jonson, the Reinvestment Fund’s managing director for Maryland and Washington, spoke with The Daily Record for the Ground Up Podcast in late August at the fund’s offices. She discussed a variety of topics, including the challenges facing projects she invests in and how a potential recession could impact the fund.

Live panel from “Building a Successful Investor Ecosystem for 21st Century Philadelphia”, presented in partnership with ImpactPHL and featuring speakers from Ben Franklin Tech Partners, Philanthropy Network of Greater Philadelphia, The Reinvestment Fund, and Investors’ Circle.

Andy Rachlin, Managing Director for Lending and Investment at Reinvestment Fund, has teamed up with Pedro Ramos, President and CEO of The Philadelphia Foundation, to start the PhilaImpact Fund, a new place-based impact investment opportunity targeted to the Greater Philadelphia region. Andy and Pedro join hosts Sandi Hunt and Sherryl Kuhlman to discuss this new venture and the impacts they expect to have on the greater Philadelphia region on Dollars and Change. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Andy Rachlin, Managing Director for Lending and Investment at Reinvestment Fund, has teamed up with Pedro Ramos, President and CEO of The Philadelphia Foundation, to start the PhilaImpact Fund, a new place-based impact investment opportunity targeted to the Greater Philadelphia region. Andy and Pedro join hosts Sandi Hunt and Sherryl Kuhlman to discuss this new venture and the impacts they expect to have on the greater Philadelphia region on Dollars and Change. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Donald Hinkle-Brown, President and CEO, leads a staff of 80 highly skilled financial experts, research analysts, and other professionals at Reinvestment Fund, a catalyst for change in low-income communities. Reinvestment Fund integrates data, policy and strategic investments to improve the quality of life in low-income towns and cities. Mr. Hinkle-Brown is widely recognized as an expert in mission investing and capacity building through his work developing new programmatic initiatives, raising capital and creating new products that improve opportunity, equity and health for underserved people and places. Under his leadership, Reinvestment Fund launched ReFresh, the nation’s first practitioner network of community lenders committed to improving access to healthy food for all Americans. He has also been instrumental in shaping strategies that leverage efforts at the intersection of health and community development to build thriving communities, including Reinvestment Fund’s pioneering multi-sector initiative in partnership with Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Invest Health. Mr. Hinkle-Brown provides his expertise to many community development loan funds, community organizations, and students, demonstrating a strong personal commitment to building the capacity of peer organizations, community partners, and the next generation of community development professionals. Closer to home, he also serves as board member to Reinvestment Fund affiliate PolicyMap. Mr. Hinkle-Brown has served as adjunct faculty at Temple University’s Geography and Urban Studies program and the University of Pennsylvania’s City Planning department. He holds an M.B.A. from the Fox School at Temple University in Real Estate and Urban Planning as well as a B.A. in Economics.

Andy Rachlin, Managing Director for Lending and Investment at the Reinvestment Fund, joins hosts Katherine Klein and Sherryl Kuhlman to discuss the Reinvestment Fund's commitment to bringing high-quality grocery stores, affordable housing, schools, and health centers to communities in need on Dollars and Change. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.