What Three Years of Investment Can Do: Stories from LISC’s Black Economic Development Fund
In recognition of Black History Month, we’d like you to meet four organizations that, through support from LISC and the Black Economic Development Fund, are creating housing, employment and other economic opportunities in the neighborhoods that need them the most.
This Black History Month, LISC is highlighting entrepreneurs and businesses working to preserve and create communities where Black families can thrive. Since 2020, the Black Economic Development Fund (BEDF) has been addressing economic challenges in Black and underinvested neighborhoods across the U.S. through community-serving real estate investments, affordable housing, and employment opportunities to help close the racial wealth gap. Part of LISC’s Project 10X, a $1 billion strategy to address racial gaps in health, wealth, and opportunity – BEDF is deploying capital across a diverse set of borrowers and geographies.
Below are four videos spotlighting BEDF’s impact from Washington D.C. to the Detroit area.
East River Park
Standard Real Estate Investments (SREI) received a $10M acquisition loan to transform East River Park in Northeast D.C. into a mixed-use development with 1,400 residential units, 300 of which will be allocated for affordable housing. With 200,000 feet of commercial space, SREI president Jerome Nichols envisions the development as a community hub.
The revitalization project in the historically Black Ward 7 neighborhood is dedicated to cultivating an equitable and sustainable urban space, supporting equity and ownership as a keystone to economic empowerment.
“Right now, we have a community that’s been under-invested in by a number of standards and it’s a place that deserves more, the people want more,” Nichols said.
Hill East
Donatelli Development, in partnership with the Black-owned and led real estate firm Blue Skye Development, received $10M in financing from the BEDF to support the construction of the second phase of waterfront apartment rentals at the Hill East campus in Washington D.C.
Once home to a broken hospital, a parking lot, and a jail, the mixed-use development is now helping meet community neighborhood needs for health care, recreation, civic space, and housing.
CEO of Blue Sky Development, Bryan “Scottie” Irving was four years old in 1968 during the civil unrest and riots following Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in the city.
“I saw the devastation on 14th street and 8th street and just to be part of the rebuild is fascinating to me,” he said.
The BEDF’s investment will support the development of two buildings featuring 611 units, including 408 affordable housing units. One of the developments will be name the Coretta building after civil rights leader Coretta Scott King.
American Housing Fund
BEDF provided the American Housing Fund (AHF) with $9M in financing for the acquisition and rehab of 98 units across two multifamily buildings on 12th street SE and 16th street NW in Washington D.C. The project will welcome unhoused applicants and voucher tenants, and provide tenant support services through the nonprofit American Housing Fund.
“We’re happy to open the doors to invite the underserved community to these neighborhoods they’ve been traditionally locked out of,” AHF Developer Jason Wiles said.
Ginosko Modular
Thanks to a $10M equity bridge loan from BEDF, Ginosko Modular will facilitate the development of a 105,000 square modular home manufacturing facility in Detroit suburb Romulus, Michigan. The facility will create jobs and skills training for the local community to help combat the disproportionately high unemployment rate.
When Armin Irving founder, president, and CEO of Ginosko Development Company (GDC) was a child and his mother was in between jobs, they lived out of a run-down motel. Irving went on to pursue a real estate career because he never wanted other families to experience the trauma he suffered while experiencing homelessness.
“It was out of that pain that I recognized the importance of minimizing dependencies with the foundation of quality of affordable housing,” he said.
About the Black Economic Development Fund (BEDF)
The Black Economic Development Fund (BEDF) is an impact investment fund addressing economic challenges in Black and underinvested communities to close the racial wealth gap. The fund targets Black-led financial institutions, Black-led businesses, Black-led anchor institutions, and other mission-focused entities with the goal of growing these organizations and strengthening their contributions to underinvested communities. The fund's deployment strategy is industry agnostic and will deploy capital across a diverse set of borrowers and geographies in the US. To learn more about the BEDF, please visit https://www.liscstrategicinvestments.org/bedf-black-economic-development-fund
The BEDF is managed by LISC Fund Management, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of LISC. LISC Fund Management is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”). Registration of an investment adviser with the SEC does not imply any level of skill or training. Please visit the SEC’s website at www.adviserinfo.sec.gov to see LISC Fund Management’s Form ADV, which contains important disclosures, including further disclosures about material conflicts of interest, risks, and limitations associated with LISC Fund Management. Any investments spotlighted were chosen based on borrower marketing permissions, geographic and industry diversity, irrelevant of financial or impact performance.