Capital Impact Partners, LIIF, Raza Development Fund and
Reinvestment Fund lead new initiative to increase racial equity in
real estate development
The roughly $175 billion U.S. housing development market is
known for high barriers to entry — and today, real estate
developers of color make up less than five percent of the industry.
To help address this gap, the Wells Fargo Foundation announced
Growing Diverse Housing Developers, a $40 million grant initiative
focused on expanding the growth and success of real estate
developers of color, including Black- and Latino-owned firms.
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Real estate developers Dr. Gina Merritt
and Julissa Carielo join the Wells Fargo Foundation Growing Diverse
Housing Developers program. (Photo: Wells Fargo)
Launched in collaboration with Capital Impact Partners, Low
Income Investment Fund, or LIIF, Raza Development Fund, or RDF, and
Reinvestment Fund, Growing Diverse Housing Developers aims to
increase the supply of homes that are affordable across the
country. Working together, these four Community Development
Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, have selected 39 developers of
color to take part in the four-year program. Participants will have
access to lower-cost, flexible capital, as well as the training,
mentors and resources needed to accelerate the production of
multifamily and mixed-use housing development projects.
“We want to increase racial equity in real estate development,
ultimately creating a more inclusive housing ecosystem,” said Bill
Daley, vice chairman of Public Affairs at Wells Fargo. “One stark
reality is that people of color are significantly underfunded and
underrepresented in the real estate industry. Through Growing
Diverse Housing Developers, we can help strengthen diverse housing
developers, enabling them to grow their businesses, and at the same
time, offer communities more affordable options for renters and
homeowners.”
“This program confronts the systemic barriers that have kept
developers of color behind many of their peers — barriers that have
also limited the ability for communities of color to thrive,” said
Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC
Small Business Finance. “We are proud to work with Wells Fargo,
LIIF, Reinvestment Fund, and RDF to help both the people who will
develop projects in communities across the United States and the
community members who will further benefit from many of those same
projects.”
“With this program, we can amplify Latino-led housing developers
who too often do not have the support they need to succeed. And in
doing so, we can increase the amount of quality housing
developments across the U.S,” said Tommy Espinoza, CEO of Raza
Development Fund, the nation’s largest Latino-serving CDFI.
“Homeownership is key for communities of color because it creates
stability for the family and is the quickest way to own an asset.
We’re proud to work with Wells Fargo to create better opportunities
for our communities.”
2022 program participants selected by coalition of
mission-driven CDFIs
Through a $30 million grant from Wells Fargo, Capital Impact
Partners joined forces with LIIF and Reinvestment Fund to create a
national learning cohort of 27 housing developers (PDF), both
nonprofit and for-profit, who are based out of California, Georgia,
Texas, and the Baltimore, New York City, Philadelphia, and
Washington, D.C., metropolitan regions. The developers will have
access to capital and resources to advance their development
pipelines and grow their business, including capacity-building
grants funded by Wells Fargo, and more than $100 million in
additional funding the CDFIs have committed toward innovative loan
products.
“We don’t just build houses – we build communities where people
want to live and can attain the best futures possible,” said Dr.
Gina Merritt, principal of Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures, LLC
based in Washington D.C., and founder of Project Community Capital.
Merritt is taking part in the Growing Diverse Housing Developers
program and specializes in projects that provide residents with
access to employment and health services, childcare, community
spaces, and other support services. “We use social capital to
identify, qualify, and train residents from underestimated
communities with RTA – reliability, trustworthiness, and ambition.
Everyone deserves a decent, safe place to live and access to
economic opportunity.”
J. Tommy Espinoza Growing Diverse Housing Developers
Fellowship
With a $10 million grant from Wells Fargo, RDF launched the J.
Tommy Espinoza Growing Diverse Housing Developers Fellowship, a
four-year professional development program for Latino and Black-led
real estate firms. The fellowship is comprised of 12 developers,
including UnidosUS affiliates and other non-profits, who are
already building and preserving multifamily rental housing and
for-sale development projects across the country. The fellows will
receive access to capital and mentoring, and will convene at least
quarterly for learning sessions provided by RDF and the Council of
Development Finance Agencies.
Julissa Carielo, construction entrepreneur and J. Tommy Espinoza
GDHD fellow, co-founded DreamOn Development Company in San Antonio
to “build things that matter,” including mixed-use housing projects
that also bring jobs, businesses, and services to underutilized
areas. As one of the few Latina business owners in her field,
Carielo says the RDF fellowship program “will provide invaluable
funding for development projects, and connections to developers
from all over the country that have a vested interest in creating
more housing and transforming communities.”
About Capital Impact Partners
Through capital and commitment, Capital Impact Partners helps
people build communities of opportunity that break barriers to
success. We work to champion key issues of equity and social and
economic justice by deploying mission-driven financing,
capacity-building programs, and impact investing opportunities. A
nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution, Capital
Impact has disbursed more than $2.5 billion since 1982. In 2020,
Capital Impact launched a new enterprise with CDC Small Business
Finance under one leadership team and national strategy to reinvent
traditional and mainstream financial systems. Our goal is to ensure
these systems equitably serve communities of color to drive
community-led solutions that support economic mobility and wealth
creation. Our leadership in delivering financial and social impact
has resulted in Capital Impact being rated by S&P Global and
recognized by Aeris for our performance. Headquartered in
Arlington, Virginia, Capital Impact Partners operates nationally,
with local offices in Austin, Texas, Detroit, Michigan, New York,
and Oakland, California.
About Raza Development Fund
Founded in 1999 as a support corporation of UnidosUS, formerly
known as National Council of La Raza (NCLR), RDF provides access to
capital and financing solutions to non-profits, UnidosUS
affiliates, and other Latino serving organizations across the
country with the mission of breaking the cycle of poverty in
low-income communities. Since its inception, RDF has provided
organizations serving Latino and poor families in 38 states with
technical assistance and financings in excess of $1 billion, which
have leveraged over $5 billion in private and public capital for
education, childcare, affordable housing, social services projects
and, most recently, small businesses. Headquartered in Phoenix, AZ,
RDF lends nationwide and has offices in Seattle, New York City,
Texas, and Florida.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial
services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets,
proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of
small businesses in the U.S., and is a leading middle market
banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of
banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as
consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable
operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial
Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth &
Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 37 on Fortune’s 2021
rankings of America’s largest corporations. In the communities we
serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a
sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing
affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a
low-carbon economy. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells
Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.
Additional information may be found at www.wellsfargo.com |
Twitter: @WellsFargo.
WF-PESG: Philanthropy & ESG
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220629005256/en/
Wells Fargo Melissa Murray
melissa.k.murray@wellsfargo.com
Capital Impact Partners David Greisman
dgreisman@capitalimpact.org
Raza Development Fund Ruby Marinez
rmarinez@razafund.org
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