NFF Dollars at Work

Youth Justice Network’s mission is to break cycles of incarceration and build an equitable justice system by providing young people with individualized advocacy, mentorship, and opportunities to grow, thrive, and lead. Founded in 1990 out of the alternative high school on Rikers Island, the organization worked to support young people in their transition from juvenile detention to their neighborhood. Since then, they have grown into a network of advocates who support youth in contact with the carceral system with both day-to-day and long-term needs and work tirelessly to minimize those young people spend in jail. Thanks to the work of Youth Justice Network and other advocates, there are no more 16-17-year-olds incarcerated on Rikers Island. Until 2020, the City of New York was Youth Justice Network’s biggest funder. But when COVID-19 struck the city, the government reduced the nonprofit’s contract by 66% – forcing it to transition its fundraising strategy to one that focused on private donors. This loan will ensure that Youth Justice Network has enough cash on hand to continue providing critical services to youth while they build out their private fundraising program. Partners: Trinity Church Wall Street

Based in Boulder, CO, Women’s Wilderness is one of the only nonprofits in the world that provides direct outdoor experiences with a gender lens. They offer a variety of programs including backpacking, camping, canoeing, climbing, hiking, nature immersion, and rafting. They also have dedicated programs for people of color, LGBTQI+ individuals, and girls who have recently migrated to or claimed refugee status in the United States.  Women's Wilderness requested a $60,000 loan through the Metro Denver Nonprofit Loan Fund to finance a fleet of three vans. While COVID-19 is still a threat in the United States, these vans will allow the organization to maintain its current program capacity while still maintaining social distancing between participants. In the future, these vans will allow Women's Wilderness to increase the amount of women, girls, and LGBTQI+ people it serves with its outdoor programming. 

Based in New York City, Women’s Prison Association (WPA) runs programs that empower women to redefine their lives in the face of injustice and incarceration. WPA recognizes that people interact with the criminal justice system in different ways; in response, its staff have designed programs that address histories of trauma, mental health needs, parental stress, and other factors that can lead to a woman's involvement with the system. WPA offers a continuum of care that includes housing, workforce development, an alternative to incarceration, legal support, health services, and more.  Funded in large part by government contracts, WPA has historically faced seasonal cash flow challenges as it waited to be reimbursed. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated delays in payment, causing stress for employees and hindering WPA's ability to achieve its mission. This loan will ensure that WPA has steady access to cash as it awaits reimbursement, ensuring that it can continue offering services that support women's freedom, safety, and independence.  Partners: Trinity Church Wall Street 

Founded in 1974 in Manhattan’s Chinatown to advocate for equal rights, Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE) has become one of New York’s leading housing, social service and community development organizations. Since its founding, AAFE has created more than 1,000 affordable rental units in Manhattan and Queens and provided over $400 million in mortgage financing for homebuyers. AAFE also offers small business loans and training programs to immigrant entrepreneurs and helps members of immigrant communities with a wide range of housing, immigration, and other quality of life issues.  This loan will fund the substantial rehabilitation of three multifamily properties (44 units total) in the East Village neighborhood of New York City. Once the renovations are complete, the properties will be converted into affordable, cooperatively owned housing for low and moderate-income households through NYC’s Affordable Neighborhood Co-op Program. AAFE’s project will support 125 tenants as they work toward their homeownership goals.  Partners: Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) 

Archway Communities elevates lives by providing access to affordable housing, food security and the supportive social services people need to thrive. Every person who lives in an Archway property has access to youth recreation, ESL classes, technology services, adult education, and other programs designed to create a holistic and engaging atmosphere for residents.  Archway will use this working capital loan to expand the amount of liquid capital it has access to at any given time, ensuring that it has sufficient cash to grow its portfolio of properties and services. With this financing, Archway hopes to develop new properties for low- and middle-income Colorado families, offer a wider array of supportive services, and hire the staff it needs to support a steady, long-term expansion.  

Housing Works’ mission is to end the dual crises of homelessness and AIDS through relentless advocacy, the provision of lifesaving services, and income-generating businesses. Grounded in the belief that housing is healthcare, Housing Works develops affordable and permanent supportive housing primarily targeted at individuals who are currently unhoused and live with HIV/AIDS or a mental health condition, struggle with substance abuse, or who have been recently released from incarceration. With access to housing and other supportive services, these individuals can in time transition into stable, permanent housing and employment.   This loan will help Housing Works develop a 36-unit permanent affordable and supportive housing facility in the East New York section of Brooklyn that will target chronically homeless individuals living with HIV/AIDS, serious mental illness and/or substance use disorder. Housing Works will provide supportive services for tenants in 21 units; the remaining 15 units will be reserved for low-income households earning up to 60 percent of annual median income. In addition to high-quality housing, residents of this facility will have access to six full-time Housing Works staff and mental and physical health services in the Housing Works health center across the street, ensuring that they have steady access to the care they need to thrive in their new homes.  

BuCu West’s mission is to create destinations that promote and support entrepreneurs, small businesses, cultural organizations, and residents in an authentic, energetic, and colorful environment. For more than two decades, BuCu West has helped transform southwest Denver’s Morrison Road Corridor into a neighborhood that supports and attracts business development through investment in local business leaders, artists, youth, leaders, infrastructure, and heritage. In 2016, BuCu West purchased its first space to house the Kitchen Network: one of Colorado’s largest specialty food incubators which served primarily businesses owned by women and people of color. Offered through NFF’s Metro Denver Nonprofit Loan Fund, this loan will help BuCu West finance a significant expansion of the Kitchen Network into the kitchen space at the former Johson & Wales campus in Denver, allowing it to grow from serving 150 to 300 food businesses each year.

Comunilife, a Latina-led nonprofit housing developer, was founded in 1989 to provide culturally competent health services and affordable and supportive housing. The largely Black and Latinx communities that this nonprofit serves are vibrant and diverse; however, decades of disinvestment have led many in these communities to struggle with poverty, homelessness, and mental illness that have long gone unaddressed. In response, Comunilife offers services such as: affordable and permanent supportive housing for chronically unhoused individuals with untreated mental illness; an 80-bed medical respite program for individuals discharging from the hospital who are homeless or unstably housed; Life is Precious, a suicide prevention program for Latinas aged 12-17; and various emergency support services such as meals and food vouchers in response to COVID-19. In partnership with Corporation for Supportive Housing, NFF is providing Comunilife with an unsecured predevelopment loan to build an eight-story building on a previously underutilized parking lot in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. This building will create 93 units of supportive and affordable housing for previously unhoused people, low-income families and individuals, and older adults.   Partners: Corporation for Supportive Housing

The Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions (CNUS), DBA Center for NuLeadership on Human Justice and Healing (CNHJH), is a BIPOC-led nonprofit in New York City that aims to redirect human and financial resources from the punishment-oriented criminal justice system to more effective, humane, equitable and sustainable solutions – solutions they call "Human Justice." They offer a variety of programs for currently and formerly incarcerated people and their loved ones, including a youth leadership development program, a cooperative workforce development program, an arrest diversion program, and a Human Justice Training and Resource Lab for community leaders, educators, service providers and policymakers. CNUS secured funding from the Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice and Young Men's Initiative, but the contracts have been delayed. This bridge loan will support the organization in its operations until that funding arrives.

Los Angeles Family Housing (LAFH) develops affordable homes, bridge housing, and emergency shelters for low-income families, formerly homeless individuals and households, seniors, and people with special needs. Currently, LAFH provides housing and supportive services to roughly 11,000 individuals. NFF provided a $2.5million loan through the Accelerating Permanent Supportive Housing Fund. Permanent supportive housing (PSH) developers like LAFH often constrained in expanding their pipelines by funding sources that are tied to a single project site or even a single stage of the project. This loan will provide unsecured flexible enterprise-level predevelopment financing that LAHF can use and reinvest in multiple projects, allowing LAFH to increase the number of projects in development. This work brings affordable, high-quality housing to hundreds of people who might otherwise have struggled to find it combined with on-site supportive services to transition individuals out of homelessness and support their long term housing stability. 

Golden State Opportunity (GSO) is a nonprofit dedicated to ending poverty by providing all Californians with the tools to build financial well-being and thrive. The organization leads comprehensive statewide campaigns to help families access public benefits, receive tailored financial coaching, achieve financial stability, and plan for the future through programs that uplift low-income Californians. They promote financial well-being through partnerships with more than 40 community-based organizations and offer materials in 13 different languages. GSO will use this bridge loan to meet the terms of a new contract through California’s Golden State Stimulus (GSS) program, which was launched during COVID-19 to assist California households that have endured a disproportionate economic burden due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With this financing, GSO will be able to keep providing much-needed financial education and services to California families. Partners: California Community Foundation

The Bronx Defenders aims to transform how low-income people in the Bronx are represented in the justice system and related policy advocacy. Each year, the organization defends approximately 20,000 Bronx residents who might otherwise not have been able to access legal representation in criminal, civil, child welfare, and immigration cases. Through its community intake and outreach programs, it reaches thousands more. In addition to providing public defense services, its social workers and non-legal advocates learn about the challenges that clients face and help them tackle the root issues that stand in the way of the futures they seek. This bridge loan will allow The Bronx Defenders to continue their operations while they await payment from a delayed government contract, ensuring that they can continue to bring legal services to the Bronx residents that need them most.

Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC) is one of New York City's largest, most experienced, and most successful providers of housing and services for individuals experiencing homelessness. Since they were founded as a grassroots organization in 1971, they have grown into a nonprofit that supported 8,500 people in 2020 with programs ranging from workforce development to substance abuse treatment to transitional and permanent supportive housing. BRC receives a large portion of its funding from the city, which reimburses the organization for services it provides to New York City residents. Offered through the Trinity Church Grantee Loan Fund, this bridge loan will allow the organization to continue offering critical supports to thousands of people who are still dealing with the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

KIPP New York (KIPP NY) is a network of 16 charter schools serving 6,400 K-12 students in the boroughs of Bronx, Brooklyn, and Manhattan. KIPP NY is a member of the Knowledge is Power Program (KIPP), a non-profit network of public charter schools that have supported early childhood, elementary, middle, and high school students since 1994. This loan will help finance the acquisition of the site for KIPP NY's newest high school campus in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx. When the school opens in 2024, it will begin offering a high-quality education to approximately 300 students; by the time it reaches full capacity in 2028, it will serve over 1,000.   Partners: BlueHub Capital, Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) 

Acceleration Day and Evening Academy (ACCEL), Alabama’s first tuition-free public charter school, serves high school students in grades 9-12 from Mobile, Baldwin, and Washington Counties. ACCEL provides flexible, accelerated academics and critical wraparound supports to Mobile area students who are at risk of dropping out or have already dropped out of high school. Due to high demand for its programs, ACCEL requested and was granted a modification to its original charter that allowed it to add grades 6-8. This loan will allow ACCEL to expand into a nearby facility – and serve an additional 200 students who might not otherwise have access to a high-quality education. Partners: BlueHub Capital, HOPE Credit Union

SEED is the nation's first and only network of public, college-preparatory boarding schools designed for students who need – and deserve – a 24-hour learning environment to achieve their full potential. NFF’s loans in this New Markets Tax Credit project will support the construction of a brand-new SEED campus in South Los Angeles on a property that has remained vacant since the 1992 Rodney King civil unrest. This campus will form part of a larger community development that includes affordable housing and a major public transit hub. SEED LA will serve 400 high school students, focusing on youth who are homeless or housing insecure, have an immediate family member who is incarcerated, or have interacted with Los Angeles County Children and Family Services. In addition to a high-quality education, SEED LA will provide wrap around services for youth who face barriers inside and outside the school, with the goal of creating a safe environment where those students can achieve academic success and thrive beyond the classroom.  Partners: Chase Bank, Capital Impact Partners (CIP), Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF), Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Weingart Foundation

Based in Denver, PlatteForum connects young people to professional artists in a safe environment where they can take creative risks and explore social issues through the arts. Through this process, youth participants develop academic, professional, social-emotional, leadership, and personal skills. They also apply an equity lens to their work, seeking out BIPOC and LGBTQ+ youth who often face greater barriers to their success. Through their flagship Art Lab Future program, PlatteForum offers free tutoring, social-emotional mental health counseling, food support, immigration services, and social work services for youth participants who are experiencing homelessness or are in the foster care system. Due to COVID-19, demand for these services has tripled – driving up PlatteForum's program costs. Offered through our Metro Denver Nonprofit Loan Fund, this loan will both help PlatteForum meet this rising demand and support investments in key infrastructure improvements – like a better space and new computers for staff – that will help them thrive in the long term.

Kids First Health Care (KFHC) partners with schools and other community organizations to bring primary and preventive health services to youth ages 0-21. Most of the youth KFCH serves are enrolled in Medicaid or Child Health Plan Plus and nearly 20 percent are uninsured. After COVID-19 mandated school closures across the country, KFHC shut down its school-based sites. For the past year and a half, they have been seeing patients solely out of their headquarters – a small facility with just two exam rooms. As schools reopen and KFHC once again begins seeing patients while they're in school, they will use this loan from our Metro Denver Loan Fund to expand into a new location with six exam rooms – vastly expanding the amount of youth they'll be able to serve. In partnership with a dental clinic at the same site, they hope to evolve this building into a hub for all of their community's healthcare needs.

Citizens of the World is an intimate network of high-achieving, community-based public schools. Their mission is to provide a high-quality education to a diverse community of students that reflect the abundant socioeconomic, racial and cultural diversity of their surroundings, developing their abilities, confidence, and sense of responsibility for themselves and their community. This loan will support the construction of a new, permanent location for grades 3-5 on the school’s Mar Vista campus. It will allow the school to bring the 5th grade back to the elementary campus and provide a students with a modern and updated site, adding art, enrichment, play, lunch and library to the space, and creating a more secure campus. In addition to bringing these activities into the same facility as the classrooms, this expansion will grow the school’s total capacity – meaning that Citizens of the World will be able to offer an exemplary education to more students.   Partners: Civic Builders 

LIFE Academy, a startup charter school in Montgomery, Alabama, provides students in grades K-8 with a holistic education rooted in trauma-informed learning, student connectedness, culturally relevant curricula, and authentic community partnership. This low-interest loan from NFF’s Resilient Communities Fund – NFF’s first ever loan in Alabama – will allow LIFE Academy to purchase and renovate the former St. Jude Educational Institute and Catholic Hospital, a key stop on the Selma to Montgomery National Historic Trail and the birthplace of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s two children. A campus with such a prominent role in the civil rights movement will be a powerfully symbolic location for a school serving a city whose public school students are 75% Black. Owning – rather than renting – this historically significant building will help the school save money in the long term and serve  its community for years to come.  Partners: BlueHub Capital, Hope Credit Union 

Community Resource Center builds the capacity of individuals, organizations, and communities through comprehensive leadership development, education, and resource programs. They offer a variety of programs to Colorado nonprofits, including: Rural Philanthropy Days, a conference for nonprofits serving rural populations; the Colorado Participation Project, a partnership with human services organizations to encourage members of marginalized communities to register to vote; the Colorado Grants Guide, the first database of funding sources for Colorado nonprofits; and the Colorado Nonprofit Leadership and Management Program, which has trained more than 700 emerging nonprofit leaders over the past 25 years. Community Resource Center recently launched a program that leverages 75 Americorps volunteers to launch COVID-19 containment efforts across the state. This $250,000 bridge loan from NFF will allow Community Resource Center to continue offering this critical program until it is reimbursed by the state of Colorado later this year. 

Compass Rose Education (CRE) is a network of tuition-free, public charter schools that combine academic success with personal growth so that K-12 students across Texas can navigate life’s big opportunities. Its rigorous, college-preparation-focused curriculum has enabled its student population, nearly 90% of which are from low-income households and 90% of which are students of color, to academically outperform those from the school district in almost all state tests. NFF and BlueHub Capital are each providing CRE with $3.6 million in refinancing a loan which supported the renovation of a building that holds CRE’s first San Antonio campus and 850 students. Together with a previous $1.1 million loan to CRE and a $1.4 million loan to CRE’s developer and landlord Building Hope, NFF has invested about $6 million into CRE’s efforts to bring high-quality education to students across Texas.  Partners: BlueHub Capital

The mission of Athletics and Beyond is to create opportunities through exposure; the organization provides tutoring for student athletes, athletic programs, and supplemental education for adults in the workforce. In addition, Athletics and Beyond is deeply involved in community service, outreach, and beautification. NFF offered Athletics and Beyond a $100,000 working capital loan through the Metro Denver Nonprofit Loan Fund, a collaboration between NFF, Community First Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, and The Denver Foundation designed to counter historic disparities in access to capital while financially supporting the Greater Denver region’s nonprofit ecosystem. Athletics and Beyond will leverage this loan to move towards achieving its five-year goal of serving 10,000 individuals annually, up from 3,000 today, by moving into its first gym facility. This space will serve as a community hub for the Green Valley Ranch, Montbello and Northfield neighborhoods of Denver.  Partners: Community First Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, and The Denver Foundation

Building Hope builds the capacity of charter schools nationwide by providing unparalleled facilities, financial, and operational services so that schools can focus on and devote more resources to educating students in underserved communities. NFF and BlueHub Capital are each providing Building Hope with a $1.4 million facility loan to finance the construction of a new charter school: Compass Rose Journey. The Compass Rose charter school network has a proven track record for providing its students – 90% of whom come from low-income households and 90% who identify as BIPOC – with a high-quality education. The Journey campus will be the third Compass Rose charter school in the San Antonio area and will enroll up to 740 students. Partners: BlueHub Capital

St. John's Episcopal Hospital offers emergency and ambulatory care to the densely populated, culturally and economically diverse, and medically underserved population of Far Rockaway, Queens and surrounding areas in New York. NFF and Capital Impact Partners each provided $5 million source loans for a $30 million project to construct a community clinic across the street from the hospital that will allow St. John's to expand the provision of primary care, mental health, and specialty care services on the Rockaway peninsula. This project will also free up much needed space at the hospital for critical inpatient services so that St. John's can continue to provide people of all faiths with comprehensive services - from preventive to rehabilitative - regardless of ability to pay.  Partners: Capital Impact Partners, CityScape Capital Group, New York City Regional Center, and Chase