We are thrilled to have partnered on so many excellent community-based projects. Join us in celebrating recent client groundbreakings and grand openings!
PRC
PRC held a grand opening on May 30th at their Integrated Service Center, Elevate SF, located at 170 9th Street in San Francisco.
This opening marked the culmination of a journey that included the merger of PRC, AIDS Emergency Fund, and Baker Places to provide seamless access to integrated services and treatment for people affected by HIV/AIDS, substance use, or mental health issues. Established in 1987, PRC has served the San Francisco community for more than thirty years with legal, social, and behavioral health services. Their new 25,000-square-foot facility allowed PRC to consolidate its three locations under one roof; providing a more supportive and accessible environment to their clients.
Community Vision supported this project through a $1.9 million capital campaign bridge loan for building renovation and tenant improvements, as well as real estate consulting services. PRC is also a client of the San Francisco Nonprofit Sustainability Initiative (NSI), which is administered by Community Vision and funded by the City of San Francisco’s Office of Economic & Workforce Development and Arts Commission.
Community Foods Market
Community Foods Market (CFM) officially opened its doors on Saturday, June 1st at 3105 San Pablo Avenue in West Oakland.
The grand opening was a historic moment years in the making and only possible because of the work and dedication of many people. CFM is more than a grocery store. It is a model of what it looks like to align capital with economic and racial equity; where health, community-driven ideas, and economic empowerment are at the heart of the market’s business model.
Over the last eight years, California FreshWorks and Community Vision have invested in CFM in a number of ways. An early FreshWorks grant provided seed capital for the market’s capital raise. In Summer of 2016, Community Vision provided CFM with a $25,000 grant that covered the often difficult to finance site-specific pre-development costs and in 2018 deployed $11 million in NMTCs to the project.
In 2018, FreshWorks provided credit enhancements on the following loans, ultimately unlocking millions more in financing:
- $3.5 million construction loan from Community Vision
- $1.9 million construction loan from Self-Help Federal Credit Union
- $6.1 million NMTC leverage loan from Community Vision, Clearinghouse CDFI, and the Nonprofit Finance Fund
Finally, both Community Vision and FreshWorks also supported the CFM’s Direct Public Offering with matching investments at critical junctures as the project needed to attract equity investments.
Mission Kids Co-Op
Mission Kids Co-Op celebrated their groundbreaking on June 14th at 969 Treat Street in San Francisco. The location is their future home for their new early childhood education campus, which will open for the 2020-2021 school year.
Mission Kids is a child-centered, play-based cooperative preschool. Children range in age from two years to those entering kindergarten. The program is designed to nurture children’s social, emotional, physical, and intellectual growth by creating a peaceful classroom environment where children can explore while feeling respected and secure. The new location allows Mission Kids to double the number of families they serve.
Community Vision’s Consulting team worked extensively with Mission Kids through the NSI program and supported the organization with developing a strategy for acquiring a permanent and interim space, lease negotiations, facility planning, and financial systems analysis. Mission Kids was also awarded a $675,000 grant through NSI to support acquisition of their new location.
HumanMade
HumanMade held their grand opening July 13th at 150 Hooper Street in San Francisco.
HumanMade is a social enterprise that creates pathways into well-paying advanced manufacturing jobs for people from historically disadvantaged communities. The organization’s business model combines market-rate paid memberships to individuals and small firms with subsidized membership and training for individuals participating in workforce development programs through the City of San Francisco and a variety of community-based organizations.
Community Vision supported this project with a $1.3 million working capital loan to finance day to day operations and equipment purchases.
Restore Oakland
Restore Oakland celebrated a soft launch July 23rd and will be fully operational by the fall. Located at 1419 34th Street, Restore is in the heart of Oakland’s Fruitvale District.
Restore Oakland is a joint initiative between the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights and Restaurant Opportunities Centers United. The two organizations joined together to purchase the building to house a COLORS Restaurant, training facility, worker-owned cooperative enterprise incubator, and to provide childcare services, housing assistance, and more. This center will provide individuals and families with skills, resources, and opportunities to build thriving communities.
Community Vision’s Consulting team provided Restore Oakland with NMTC consulting services, as well as technical assistance in business and finance planning, and our Lending team provided $2.5 million in acquisition financing and a $3.6 million NMTC leverage loan to rehabilitate a 18,000-square-foot building into a training and advocacy center aimed at mobilizing Bay Area community members to transform our economic and justice systems.
Meals on Wheels of San Francisco
July 25th marked the groundbreaking for Meals on Wheels of San Francisco’s (MOWSF) future kitchen and food production facility located at 2230 Jerrold Avenue.
Founded in 1970, MOWSF delivers more than 6,000 meals a day to very low-income elders who experience food insecurity. Over the last decade, the number of daily meals delivered tripled. MOWSF’s services are expected to increase as Baby Boomers are aging and living longer, and the high cost of living in San Francisco will likely push more seniors into poverty or homelessness.
MOWSF’s expanded warehouse brings local construction and new permanent jobs through a Community Benefits Agreement negotiated in partnership with the City of San Francisco. Employees receive full health insurance, retirement benefits, paid vacation, and MOWSF provides a “job ladder” and training for higher level positions and promotions.
Community Vision’s Consulting team provided NMTC consulting, as well as feasibility and financial modeling services. Our Lending team deployed $8 million in NMTCs and provided a $3 million NMTC leverage loan for construction and equipment for the manufacturing facility.
Life Learning Academy
Life Learning Academy (LLA) opened the doors to their new 6,400-square-foot student dormitory on August 3rd.
LLA, a San Francisco-based public charter school, builds greater equity in education for local young people. Founded in 1998 in an effort to reform San Francisco’s Juvenile Justice System, the school utilizes a number of innovative teaching methods and mission-driven programs to target historic gaps in opportunities and better meet the needs of its students. Based on Treasure Island, LLA welcomes approximately 60 youth each school year. A majority of the students come from low-income communities of color, experience significant trauma and have been involved in, or are at risk of involvement in the juvenile justice and child welfare systems. Approximately 1/3rd of LLA’s students experience homeless or are living in unstable housing conditions. The dorm will house about 20% of the school’s students, and includes eight bedrooms with common bathrooms, a small laundry room, a central living room, a snack bar, two staff offices, and a one-bedroom resident staff apartment.
LLA was referred to Community Vision by someone who knows our work and knew that we may be the only lender that could meet LLA’s needs. Our Lending team creatively structured a loan that worked for everyone involved. With support from a number of private foundations, corporations, government, and individual donors, the school successfully raised more than 50% of their funding goal. In June of 2018, Community Vision provided the organization with a $1.6 million bridge loan, which enabled the school to move forward with the project and meet their construction goals ahead of their 2019 opening date. In 2018, LLA also received a $56,250 grant from the NSI program to support the renovation of the school’s kitchen.
Yolo Food bank
Yolo Food Bank (YFB) held their grand opening at their new Woodland location on August 24th.
Established in 1970, the Yolo Food Bank was founded as a volunteer-run backyard gleaning program and has grown to an organizational network of staff, volunteers, and partner agencies. YFB coordinates food storage and distribution of food from a network of growers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers and grocery stores. The organization collaborates with nonprofits, private and public sector agencies, and service organizations throughout Yolo County to serve 17,000 households each month.
Community Vision provided predevelopment loans at an early stage, and later deployed $7 million in NMTCs and a $1.25 million NMTC leverage loan to support the rehabilitation and construction of a 35,000-square-foot warehouse. The facility consolidates food storage and administrative offices into one location and enables the food bank to quadruple the amount of fresh fruits and vegetables distributed.
RYSE Center
RYSE Center held their groundbreaking ceremony on September 6th for RYSE Commons, a youth-driven space located at 205 41st Street in Richmond.
Rising Youth for Social Equity (RYSE) is anchored in the belief that young people have the lived knowledge and expertise to identify, prioritize, and direct the resources necessary to thrive. RYSE is deepening roots and raising up a new structure to better hold and amplify youth voices. Renovating their existing center into a 37,000-square-foot campus will expand the organization’s youth programs and partnership space, allowing RYSE to expand their age range to engage young people between 11-24. Once opened, the RYSE Commons will be a dynamic campus for personal development, play, expression, incubating ideas, performance, art, launching businesses, exploring tech, and more.
The project received $5.7 million in NMTCs, allocated by Raza Development Fund, Inc., with Community Vision’s share at $2.7 million.
