$1.7
Billion
invested
Dear Friends
The Low Income Investment Fund’s (LIIF) charge of creating pathways of opportunity for low income families is as pressing today as at our founding more than 30 years ago. The American Dream is out of reach for too many people. This situation is not only unjust, but also has huge costs for our nation’s progress. We must do better. We must go all in.
LIIF’s investments get neighborhoods working for their residents by surrounding them with the basic elements of success: an affordable home, a way to get to work, a place to get a great education, a safe and healthy place to play. Healthy, connected communities are launch pads for low income families. They give kids a jump start to life. These neighborhoods have value for all of us, but creating them is not a simple task with a one-size-fits-all solution. It requires us to be more inclusive, collaborative and innovative than ever.
LIIF has embraced this challenge. Our experience investing nearly $2 billion in community capital to create $47 billion in social value shows that integrative initiatives have the best chance of turning the dial on poverty and inequality. Our work on the Partners in Progress program to support community quarterbacks leading neighborhood transformation has benefited 1 million people in 10 cities nationwide and led to a forum by The Atlantic on “Making Cities Work.” We are now launching a $6 million capital product, Equity with a Twist, to provide low-cost, flexible capital to organizations pursuing outcomes-driven, evidence-based and silo-busting strategies.
We must embrace new partners to make communities truly work for everyone. LIIF is leading national conversations with the environmental, health care and transit fields to further shared goals around health, equity and sustainability. In an acknowledgement of the groundbreaking success of the Bay Area Transit-Oriented Affordable Housing Fund, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is making an additional investment which will help expand the fund from $60 million to $90 million.
LIIF’s organizational strength enables us to pursue these cutting edge efforts. Our capital deployment remains at a historically high level, and our balance sheet is solid. This year, we received our eighth consecutive and largest New Markets Tax Credit allocation of $60 million, which will enable us to continue to invest in the highest-impact community projects.
We are proud to mark another successful year for LIIF and are grateful to the many partners who work tirelessly alongside us to create opportunity for low income children, families and neighborhoods. Our challenge is great, but we believe our field is up to the task. That is why LIIF is marshalling all of its resources, capital and creativity to make every community work. In short, LIIF is all in.
Sincerely,
Andrew Ditton, Current Chair of the Board
Nancy O. Andrews, President and CEO
Dan Letendre, Former Chair of the Board
When Jerry – a Louisiana native and veteran - first visited the Kingsley House, he was hesitant about senior centers. After spending just one afternoon there, however, he experienced the vibrancy and care that has kept him coming back. Now, when Jerry goes to Kingsley House for health services and senior activities, he greets their preschool students and the other seniors as his family.
In Jerry’s New Orleans community, LIIF’s investment in Kingsley House – a longstanding nonprofit service provider – is supporting children, seniors and families still rebuilding their lives 10 years after Hurricane Katrina. With financing from LIIF, including an allocation of New Markets Tax Credits, Kingsley House is building a new, 24,000-square-foot state-of-the-art facility to expand its early childhood education and senior health services. The new site will enable Kingsley House to serve more seniors and preschool children – meeting the need of its 500-family long waitlist.
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Connecting my dad to young people keeps his spirits high and makes him feel loved.
Christine
Project Partners: Chase, Louisiana Office of Community Development, Patrick F. Taylor Foundation
In the Brownsville neighborhood of New York, LIIF is supporting Community Solutions – a national non-profit serving as a community quarterback for a local coalition of partners. Through Partners in Progress, LIIF has supported Community Solutions’ collective impact approach in Brownsville. In addition, LIIF provided financing to Community Solutions to build the Gregory Jackson Center for Brownsville, a community center to foster connections among local residents, nonprofits, businesses and public agencies in Brownsville.
The new 13,800-square-foot facility provides a space for community innovators to collaborate around pressing neighborhood challenges like unemployment, health disparities and educational barriers. Dedicated flex space will host community problem solving sessions and nonprofit office space will co-locate local organizations working on collaborative community-building approaches. In addition, the new facility will house the neighborhood’s first employment center to meet Community Solutions’ goal of connecting 5,000 Brownsville residents to jobs in three years, a critical goal in a community where 44% of adult residents are out of the workforce. Within its first few months of opening, the center is already slated to host more than 40 public events, establishing it as a vibrant hub for the community.
Project Partners: Citi Foundation, New York City Economic Development Corporation
DC Prep’s Benning Street Campus is located in the city’s Benning neighborhood, where 83% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches. LIIF provided a leverage loan and an allocation of New Market Tax Credits to DC Prep – one of the highest performing public school networks in Washington, DC; 100% of its students go on to enroll in college-prep high schools. LIIF’s financing enabled the school to add two grades, creating a full pre-kindergarten to 8th grade education pipeline for the community. The renovated building and new 30,000-square-foot addition will house 700 eager students once it reaches full enrollment in 2017. With a focus on elementary and middle school success, DC Prep will prepare eager students for success in high school and beyond.
Project Partners: Bank of America, City First, Telesis Corporation
As a leading national community development financial institution, the LOW INCOME INVESTMENT FUND (LIIF) invests capital to support healthy families and communities. LIIF employs a holistic approach by investing in strategies that connect people, places and opportunity: affordable housing, child care, quality education, health and transit-oriented development. LIIF provides loans, grants and technical assistance and works to advance policies that increase economic opportunity and mobility for low income people.