2014 Annual Report

Nojaim Brothers Supermarket, Syracuse, NY

Located in the Near Westside community of Syracuse, New York, Nojaim Brothers Supermarket is a family-owned grocery that has been a neighborhood anchor, an employer and a provider of locally-sourced healthy food for residents for over 90 years. Like many other cities that lost large industries, Syracuse and specifically, the Near Westside neighborhood, faced decades of disinvestment and population decline. Today, more than 40% of community lives in poverty and residents face limited access to affordable and healthy food. The Near Westside Initiative is a local coalition of public agencies, Syracuse University, nonprofits and local businesses like Nojaim Brothers Supermarket that is working to revitalize the neighborhood.

Given the difficult economic environment, the supermarket struggled and was faced with possible closure. LIIF stepped up to provide affordable financing through the New York Healthy Food and Healthy Communities (HFHC) Fund to support a renovation and expansion of the store. Now reopened, the store’s third-generation owner, Paul Nojaim, continues to seek ways to improve the community. The store is partnering with St. Joseph’s Hospital, Syracuse University and the Onondaga Department of Health to help address the issues of healthy food access and nutrition education. The collaboration is aiming to educate and empower Nojaim’s customer base to eat healthier through several programs, such as discounts on healthy food purchases and for those that opt-in, the opportunity to send their purchases electronically to their local health provider to receive nutrition counseling and information about healthy habits.

New York Healthy Food and Healthy Communities (HFHC) Fund partners include The Food Trust, Empire State Development and the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group.

Comprehensive Child Development, Long Beach, CA

Cabrillo Child Development Center is one of five centers operated by Long Beach-based Comprehensive Child Development (CCD). The center is located within the Century Villages at Cabrillo, a collaborative residential community aimed at breaking the cycle of homelessness. The community offers residents a full spectrum of services from supportive housing for veterans and homeless families to medical and employment services.

LIIF provided CCD with financing through its Los Angeles Early Childhood Education (LA ECE) Bridge Fund. The fund, launched with support from the California Community Foundation and First 5 Los Angeles, delivers critical support to providers in Los Angeles County who face state payment delays. When these funding deferrals threatened CCD’s ability keep its doors open, LIIF used the LA ECE Bridge Fund to provide the capital CCD needed to continue to offer high-quality, affordable care for hundreds of families. For the Cabrillo Child Development Center, this meant the parents in the community could keep climbing the ladder of opportunity by staying at work, school or training and support programs.

Progressive Community Health Centers, Milwaukee, WI

Progressive Community Health Centers (PCHC) was created to address the unmet need for health care in high need areas of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The organization delivers vital health care services to the medically underserved through its main clinic, as well as another site located within a public housing complex. Its main clinic is located in Milwaukee’s Washington Park neighborhood, where more than 60% of residents live in poverty. PCHC faced growing demand for its services, and its main clinic resources were stretched to full capacity.

LIIF provided New Markets Tax Credits and bridge financing to enable PCHC to finance the construction of a new 42,000-square-foot main medical facility. The new clinic will be four times larger and enable PCHC to grow from serving 8,000 to 20,000 patients annually. LIIF’s bridge financing was provided through the Collaborative for Healthy Communities, a national partnership of community development financial institutions, nonprofits and foundations that provides capital to finance and grow community health centers. In the new facility, PCHC will expand their range of services to include diagnostic radiology and mammography, nutrition counseling, diabetes education and, eventually, integrated behavioral health services.

Financing partners included IFF and JPMorgan Chase. The Collaborative for Healthy Communities partners include the Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, The Kresge Foundation, Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC), Rockefeller Foundation and The Reinvestment Fund.

Utica Place, Brooklyn, NY

St. Matthew’s Church has served the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn for a century, offering a variety of community-oriented services for local families, youth and seniors. Its plans for expanded services were hindered by an existing community space that was too small and in disrepair. In partnership with L+M Development Partners, LIIF provided New Markets Tax Credits and leveraged financing for the construction Utica Place, a transit-oriented commercial and community facility that enabled St. Mathews to expand its community programs and bring economic activity to the neighborhood.

The new mixed-use building features an integrated combination of community facility space, commercial retail and child care services. St. Matthew’s Church now offers its programming out of the new community space, including academic mentoring, after-school youth activities and drug abuse counseling. The building’s high-quality early education center, which will serve 75 children, will provide dependable care and allow local working families with young children to keep working. With over 14,000-square-feet of retail, including a low-cost gym, the project is providing local employment opportunities and revitalizing a once struggling commercial corridor. The development is adjacent to a new 87-unit low income housing development, which will include dedicated supportive housing for veterans.

Financing partners included Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group and Dudley Ventures.