CDFI financing helps COPO purchase facilities to increase services while cutting rent payments.
Every Friday morning a line of community members stretches down Brooklyn’s Coney Island Avenue, awaiting fresh produce and kitchen staples from the halal food pantry operated by Council of Peoples Organization (COPO). At the very end is a table connecting them with COPO’s other resources: English classes, citizenship support, domestic violence support, SNAP assistance, health insurance enrollment, and other legal resources.
Food is a steppingstone to many other services, explains Founder and CEO Mohammad (Moe) Razvi. It’s a matter of identifying needs and finding a solution that’s right for the community. “COPO is about people helping people,” Moe says.
COPO itself grew out of a community need – providing services to families of the men being rounded up in mass arrests in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Moe figured he could convert his fabric store to a base of operations for a few months as COPO worked these cases. But he quickly discovered the community had more needs than he realized. Two decades later, COPO’s 100 staff and 400 volunteers provided services in 14 languages and operated out of six rented storefronts. Services expanded to include a food pantry, wellness support, and more, including an Older Adult Center offering hot halal meals, fitness and cultural activities, and health assessments.
All that rented space came at a high cost, Moe says: $25,000 per month. Two loans from NFF helped COPO purchase its headquarters and a facility for its Older Adult Center, consolidating those costs into $8,000 mortgage payments while shielding COPO from rent hikes and landlord uncertainty. (SeaChange Capital also provided a bridge loan to assist with the purchase of the Older Adult Center facility.)
“I’m saving so much more money that goes back into the community, goes back into the services, goes back towards me hiring more staff,” Moe says. More space at a lower cost allows COPO to respond quickly when new needs arise.
“I’m saving so much more money that goes back into the community, goes back into the services, goes back towards me hiring more staff.”
There are additional benefits to facility ownership, explains NFF Finance Senior Director Ines Marino-Torres. COPO’s real estate is now an asset that can be used as collateral to finance future projects. And NFF’s confidence in COPO as a borrower has led to additional contracts and investments from the city. Equipment bought with NYC Department for the Aging funding, for example, allowed COPO to make more meals for seniors more efficiently, scaling its community impact.
“But I think the most important impact is that they are able to stay in the communities that they are serving,” Ines explains. “They gain permanence in those communities as beacons and anchors for the folks they serve.”
Taking on debt was a big, important decision, Moe says, and Ines and NFF’s Financing team helped COPO navigate the acquisition process – finding the right financing structure and working together through the complexities of taking on a loan. “It’s amazing what we’re able to do because of everyone coming together and working with us – from NFF, from the city, from everyone,” Moe reflects.
“I think COPO is the embodiment of what it means to be a community centered organization,” Ines says. “I know that Mohammad is always looking for ways of serving the community, providing what they need. He’s always trying to find ways of serving them better and adding services and adding programs based on those needs and that feedback.”
Transcript
Moe Razvi:
The most important thing I can tell you: Food actually is a steppingstone for so many to get other services. People come here just for food on line in these places, but they’re able to get the other services, whether it’s health insurance, whether it’s food stamps, other benefits. I have cases, domestic violence, that come over there – I didn’t even know! – just because of this.
Salam alaikum, salam alaikum, salam alaikum, salam alaikum.
Oh my God, how are you my dear?
Woman:
How are you?
Moe Razvi:
Beautiful day, beautiful day.
After they get the food, my staff will ask them, “Would you like food stamps?” Then they will be helped to get enrollment into food stamp benefits.
This is my auntie. She’s very, very strict. You know, she’s in charge of all the good stuff.
How are you? Hello! How are you?
Areej Sajid:
Even when it’s snowing, the line is going to be the same: all these people, all these volunteers, all these workers. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, if it snows, or if it’s like really hot outside, it doesn’t matter.
Moe Razvi:
I grew up on food stamps. I grew up in the projects. I know what’s food insecurity. A food pantry is one of those first steps where a person can see there are other services available to them. And that’s a key aspect of our communities. It’s people helping people.
So COPO came about quite frankly accidentally. So I’m an entrepreneur, with my dad. We had multiple businesses here on this block. One place was Punjab Sweets, and this was going to be Punjab Fabrics. And at that time, 9/11 happened. And as the buildings fell down, the ashes came to this space here.
So many community members were being rounded up in the neighborhood because their name matched on a database, you know, and it was just unfortunate how people were blaming this community of what had happened.
We decided we’ll open up the space, and I said to myself, “Yeah, I’ll make it into a fabric store afterwards, six months. Let me help the people.” The organization’s name was Council of Pakistan Organization. That’s how I opened up. I was just going to service some folks and that’s it and close the place down and open up my fabric store. But when I opened up the doors, I had Indians coming in, Bengalis coming in, Sri Lankans, Haitians coming in, Jamaicans coming, all with the same issues. We speak 14 languages in my office, so we serve everyone.
Many of these family members are looking for that American dream. They are here to do work. They’re trying. And these people come to us, whether they want to learn English, become a citizen, or have their child to be the first one to graduate in college. That’s the American dream. What those six months turned into is now 24 years. It just never closed. And what was supposed to be a fabric store turned out to be the fabric that held the community together.
Ines Marino-Torres:
I think COPO is the embodiment of what it means to be a community-centered organization. Mohammad is always looking for ways of serving the community. He’s always trying to find ways of serving them better and adding services and adding programs based on those needs and that feedback.
Khadija Choukri:
Our senior center is almost – we serve over there around 30,000 meals a year. We’re the only Halal meals on wheels. If we’re not here these people don’t have Halal meals on wheels. Immigration, we serve around over 700 people a year. We’re so overwhelmed with work regarding mental health counseling that now we have two mental health counselors onsite. On top of that we have case management services, and we serve around 700 seniors.
Moe Razvi:
The Department for the Aging helped us purchase all new, brand-new equipment. Special ovens, special equipment to cook. So each of these pots cook for 100 people. They all cook every day, two to three times a day.
So I used to do this, me and my wife, individually with the one machine. Now we can do 1,000 meals a day.
How are you?
So here our seniors get assistance in how to get health insurance. We also have a nurse that’s also on staff that checks their blood pressure and their weight, and to see if there’s any issues that they’re having. And that’s imperative for our community.
Almost 15 years I was renting the space that I have. As I grew, as my programs grew: 1,000 square feet, to 5,000 square feet, to 10,000 to 20,000 square feet. When we were at 20,000 square feet, we realized that I’m paying rent $25,000 a month – that I have to at the end of the month raise. And NFF was the group that we reached out to immediately. And at that moment it gave us such a helping hand because now instead of paying $25,000 a month, I’m paying an $8,000 mortgage.
I’m saving so much more money that goes back into the community, goes back into the services, goes back towards me hiring more staff. And on top of that, I’ve gained three more times of space than I actually had.
Ines Marino-Torres:
Nonprofits, when they acquire spaces, they are really acquiring an asset that they can leverage, knowing that this is going to increase their value. They can also apply for other financing using those assets as collateral so they can access additional financing. But I think the most important impact is that they are able to stay in the communities that they are, serving. They gain permanence in those communities as really beacons and anchors. These organizations really are building wealth and well-being for the communities they serve.
Areej Sajid:
I feel so happy that, like, I’m able to help regarding whatever: it’s food, immigration, whatever it is. It’s like my way of telling them, like, you’re not alone, and we’re here to help,
Khadija Choukri:
If tomorrow COPO is not here, it’s a lot of programs that we lose for the community. It’s over almost 100,000 people that won’t get services. And for us like seeing the people are calling us after, and seeing they’re feeling better, they’re putting their life together, it’s just like, “oh we did our job.”
Visit NFF’s financing page to see how our loans help organizations like COPO achieve their goals.