The Change Capital Fund, a 21-member collaborative of banks, foundations, intermediaries and the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity has created a fund to support the growing movement for community ownership in New York City neighborhoods.

Over the next four years, Change Capital Fund members will distribute $8 million to advance affordable housing, community facilities and economic development projects that are owned and designed by community-based nonprofits. CCF issued a Request for Proposals on June 30 (proposals are due 9/14/22), and will select six to ten organizations by the end of 2022. Selected organizations will receive $150,000 per year for four years. To get special help from partners and consultants with appropriate expertise, they also will have access to additional money via a designated technical assistance fund.  CCF will prioritize funding for community organizations that are BIPOC-led and serve communities that have been impacted by racial and economic inequities.

Contributing institutions will include:  Altman Foundation, BankUnited, Capital One, Deutsche Bank, Enterprise Communities, Goldman Sachs, HSBC Bank USA, JPMorgan Chase, LISC, M & T Bank, MUFG, Mizuho, New York Foundation, The New York Community Trust, NYC Opportunity, Principal, Santander Bank, Scherman Foundation, Trinity Wall Street, United Way of NYC and Wells Fargo Bank.

Patricia Swann, New York Community Trust Program Director and a Co-Chair of the Committee, says: “Dozens of groups in New York City are organizing community members to gain control of some of the last remaining development sites in their neighborhoods.  CCF’s funding will help them do just that.”

Marc Jahr, a veteran reinvestment banking official and former head of the City’s Housing Development Corporation, will chair a specially created subcommittee to help grantees access financing and development expertise. He says: “This public/private partnership has the potential to be a game changer for community-based organizations looking to shape their communities’ future.”

It’s anticipated that the projects supported through this fund will include housing and commercial community land trusts, limited equity coops, worker coops, community investment trusts, community-owned solar initiatives, and other forms of community ownership.

Change Capital Fund is well-positioned to give a meaningful lift to the growing movement for community control of land. Its innovative capacity building feature and four-year funding cycle create the right framework for these aspiring efforts. And it builds on Change Capital’s previous investments, since a number of the organizations working to create land trusts and other vehicles for collective ownership have received CCF grants in current or past funding cycles.

Carson Hicks of the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity said, “NYC Opportunity is delighted to continue our work with the Change Capital Fund.  The new focus on community ownership dovetails with our efforts to promote community-driven solutions to reduce poverty.”

For more information, please visit: www.changecapitalfund.org

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