Archive for category: Georgia Social Impact Collaborative

Announcing the Community Guarantee Pool, powered by the GoATL Fund

 

ATLANTA – June 8, 2021 – At a time of heightened need across the region, the GoATL Fund (GoATL), an initiative of the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, has launched an innovative program for nonprofits to accelerate access to federal stimulus and other public contract funding. In collaboration with local Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and private and family foundations, the Community Guarantee Pool (CGP) provides credit enhancements that free up capital for nonprofits, thus infusing dollars for critical services including rapid rehousing, rental assistance and mental health counseling. 

GoATL’s CGP is a pooled fund used to support multiple guarantees that allow nonprofits to more rapidly receive federal funding, which dramatically improves their ability to provide critical community services. “The CGP is the first of its kind in our region, and as it takes hold it has the potential to unlock up to $20 million in public subsidies that would otherwise go unused,” said Mark Crosswell, managing director of social impact strategies at the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta. “Providing this service to our nonprofits across the region helps fulfill our commitment to advance racial equity while driving systems change at the local level.” 

CGP has launched with an initial $1 million in capital that will be used to issue guarantees to CDFIs in order for them to free up loan capital for nonprofits in metro Atlanta. The GoATL Fund will work closely with nonprofits and CDFIs to identify opportunities to improve the flow of federal funding to communities in need. For example, Project Community Connections, Inc. (PCCI), a nonprofit that implements solutions to permanently rehouse people experiencing homelessness into appropriate, affordable homes as efficiently as possible – often within 30 days – has recently taken on a $7.7 million government contract to support the transition of 450 families out of homelessness. In partnership with Reinvestment Fund and GoATL, the CGP will improve PCCI’s ability to perform on this contract. 

The CGP targets nonprofits that rely on substantial federal subsidies, including the funding made available through the American Recovery Plan. These federal funding subsidies are typically administered by local municipalities, which routinely experience administrative delays in making payments to nonprofits, causing severe cash flow shortages and hindering nonprofits’ administration of vital services. Also, for many government programs, the nonprofit must provide services (fronting all costs), then submit for funding reimbursement. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these issues due to an incredible surge in demand for nonprofit support. 

“The pandemic has caused thousands of metro area families to face homelessness or the threat of eviction, with thousands more experiencing unemployment. Demand for mental health services, quality food and rental assistance has outstripped supply. Our local nonprofits are ready to serve these families, but when the public subsidies are unduly delayed, they can’t fulfill their contracts to meet community needs. The Community Guarantee Pool was created to streamline the process, helping our nonprofits deliver while providing time for the government to provide the funding,” said Crosswell. “Alongside five CDFIs and several local foundations, we have structured this unique pilot to solve the problem through bridge funding. Along with hopes that our public partners respond by improving their processes to ensure that funding is flowing to where it’s most needed, we expect to see more sustainable funding soon.” 

Since 2018, the GoATL Fund has invested $12.25 million in local initiatives that seek to generate measurable social outcomes along with financial returns. GoATL’s investments are structured as flexible, cost-effective debt that provide impact investors a modest return while achieving social outcomes in affordable housing, job creation, education and well-being. 

The GoATL Fund invests in initiatives that address racial inequities including access to healthcare, affordable housing, economic inclusion and education. To create efficiencies and leverage even more capital, GoATL often collaborates with intermediaries like CDFIs that have the knowledge and expertise to structure larger investments to support solutions addressing critical needs across our region. 

“Many of the organizations providing services such as emergency shelter and mental health counseling are facing operating challenges during the pandemic, with increased costs and decreased revenues,” said Christina Szczepanski, managing director, southeast for Reinvestment Fund, a CDFI that brings financial and analytical solutions to community challenges. “Having the Community Guarantee Pool provide credit enhancements helps moderate risk as we make working capital loans to nonprofits providing these essential services.”

“When awarded 70% of the City of Atlanta’s CARES COVID-19 Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funding in November 2020, PCCI did not have the cash on hand to execute the contract,” said Margaret Schuelke, co-CEO for PCCI. “PCCI is glad to be the first nonprofit benefiting from the Community Guarantee Pool. We hope other nonprofits are able to take advantage of the program and alleviate their financial concerns.” 

Participating CDFIs include Access to Capital for Entrepreneurs (ACE), Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership (ANDP), Enterprise Community Partners, LISC Atlanta and Reinvestment Fund. Alongside the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta, the Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation and The J.B. Fuqua Foundation have made commitments to the CGP. If any other foundations are interested in supporting this effort, please contact Mark Crosswell.

 

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About the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta

Since 1951, the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta has been leading and inspiring philanthropy to increase the vitality of our region and the well-being of all residents. With 70 years serving the Atlanta region and a robust team of experts, the Community Foundation expands its philanthropic reach and impact by providing quality services to donors and bold, innovative community leadership committed to racial equity. The Community Foundation is a top-20 community foundation among 800 nationally, with approximately $1.2 billion in current assets, and is Georgia’s second largest foundation. Launched in 2018, the GoATL Fund provides innovative and flexible capital designed to scale and sustain social solutions of critical importance to our community. Started with an initial allocation of $10 million from the Community Foundation, the GoATL Fund is now open to receive new capital from the Community Foundation’s donor community. For more information, visit: GoATL Fund, cfgreateratlanta.org or connect with the Foundation via Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

About Project Community Connections, Inc.

PCCI is dedicated to permanently rehousing individuals and families experience homelessness to a decent, affordable place to live. They operate as a team of interdependent professionals dedicated to ending homelessness in the community. PCCI provides services that promote personal and economic self-sufficiency to assist their clients to become self-sufficient so they can remain stably housed and thrive in all aspects of their lives. To promote self-sufficiency, PCCI offers workforce development classes with the goal for their clients to secure full-time or part-time employment. PCCI’s reputation for delivering quality rapid rehousing services is earned through hard work, consistency and program performance. The quality, innovation and efficiency of their work has been recognized locally, statewide and nationally.

About Reinvestment Fund

Reinvestment Fund is a mission-driven financial institution committed to making communities work for all people. We bring financial and analytical tools to partnerships that work to ensure that everyone has access to essential opportunities: affordable places to live, access to nutritious food and health care, schools where their children can flourish, and strong, local businesses that support jobs. We use data to understand markets, communities, and impediments to opportunity—and how investment and policy decisions can have the most powerful impact. Since our inception in 1985, Reinvestment Fund has provided over $2.4 billion in financing to strengthen neighborhoods, scale social enterprises, and build resilient communities. Learn more at reinvestment.com.

Media Contact:

Elyse Hammett, 404.376.5563

[email protected]

By: Brent Hobson, Project Manager at Cherry Street Energy

 

Where do you see yourself in 14 years? How about 29? Weird timelines, I know, but I ask because 2035 and 2050 are fairly significant dates. Organizations across the globe are making commitments to transition to a brighter energy future that is more sustainable, resilient, and economical using these timelines.

The City of Atlanta committed to the bold vision of 100% renewable energy by 2035 and the state has proposed a goal of doing the same by 2050. Many of Georgia’s largest businesses and universities have announced similar commitments and timelines. 

Meeting these goals will be difficult, complex and expensive. That’s why I work with the brightest people who are hellbent on solving these impossible challenges. We designed Cherry Street Energy to overcome the key barriers for cities, businesses and institutions to make the transition to renewable energy. We make it simple, affordable, and scalable. 

So, what does Georgia’s transition to renewable energy look like? We believe that catalytic leaders will inspire others to take action. We work with institutional, business and community leaders to help them envision their energy futures and design the path to get there. We focus on powering Georgia’s largest energy users.

We designed an easy-to-adopt enterprise scale platform that removes the financial and operational barriers to future-ready energy systems. We take on the expenses and complexities while our customers pay only for the energy that is produced. We’re working to help guide our state’s transition toward reliable, renewable energy.

The City of Atlanta and Fulton County have been incredible partners and so far, we’ve powered recreation centers, fire stations and libraries all over the city. 

At Emory University, we’re building massive solar parking canopies and are planning for installations at their Midtown hospital facilities. 

Molson Coors featured Athens’ Terrapin Brewery in their annual sustainability report as a leader among their breweries, highlighting our 2019 solar installation at their facility.

But it’s more than solar. We’re working hand-in-hand with all of our partners to put their goals into action. The road to a brighter future is being paved in Georgia and the process is replicable. As more leaders begin this inevitable shift, it becomes easier to visualize that future. 

So, Georgia, where do we see ourselves in 14 to 29 years? Because I see us holding up our end of the bargain. I see us as leaders. I see us working together to create a future that the next generation deserves. I see us shining bright enough to power a whole state. 

Our transition to renewable energy requires the bright thinker in each of us.

 

• Entrepreneur Name: Kevin Mobolade 
• Venture Name: Swipe Credit 
• Impact Focus Area(s): Financial Inclusion 
• Business Stage (Ideation, Startup, Early, Later, Mature): Early 
• Year Venture Established: 2021 
• Business Type: Enterprise Software as a Service 

 

Swipe Credit is a financial technology company that provides credit to more than 11 million underserved people in the US. We have made it easier to access financial services by using alternative data to increase access to credit for consumers and small businesses. Our innovative technology provides lenders with information based on actual consumer behavior. We identify customers who want lower payments and fees than existing services offer, then match them to the ideal financial product that matches their needs. 

According to Citigroup, closing the racial wealth wage gap 20 years ago might have provided an additional $2.7 trillion in income available for consumption and investment. Improving access to housing credit might have added an additional 770,000 homeowners over the last 20 years, with combined sales and expenditures adding another $218 billion to GDP over that time. 

Facilitating increased access to higher education (college, graduate, and vocational schools) for students might have bolstered lifetime incomes by $90 to $113 billion dollars.

Providing fair and equitable lending to entrepreneurs might have resulted in the creation of an additional $13 trillion in business revenue over the last 20 years. This could have been used for investments in labor, technology, capital equipment, and structures and 6.1 million jobs might have been created per year. 

At Swipe Credit, we’ve put together a team of engineers from Georgia Tech led by our CTO, who has a Ph.D. in computer engineering. We have developed an algorithmic mechanism and high-quality user onboarding and interfaces to combat this problem and unlock tens of billions of enterprise value in the process. 

As a first-generation American, my family and I personally have experienced the hardships involved in navigating the financial system and the pain that this brings in one’s day-to-day life. The American dream for most is to have a home, a car, and a job. In reality, most families struggle to achieve just those three things. Millions of people in our country don’t have access to credit. 

Swipe Credit’s mission is to support financially underserved individuals and families by providing them with access to financial resources. We do this by providing credit monitoring services, educational resources, and innovative products and services that help consumers achieve financial freedom without the added stress of credit scores. 

I leave with you with this quote from American radio speaker and author Earl Nightingale: ” We are at our very best, and we are happiest when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep. It makes everything else in life so wonderful, so worthwhile.” As a country, as a people, it is time that we provide the least of us with the tools needed to help them do the work they enjoy and build the future they envision. We are made stronger, more secure, and happier as a community. It is time we make that dream a reality. 

 

Interested in learning more, please visit: 

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/CreditSwipe  
• Website: https://www.exploreswipe.com/  
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/swipe-credit 

At the end of 2020, Crossing Capital Group, Inc. (CCG) established the The Oikos Institute for Social Impact (Oikos) to create mutually supportive ecosystems with seminaries and universities, foundations, government agencies and denominational judicatories for social impact. At their best, these ecosystems will be community-centered and will disrupt the cycle of exploitation of properties owned largely by  historically Black congregations. CCG will also coordinate opportunities for the local  deployment of impact capital, or investments made with the intent to yield a social or environmental return as well as a financial return. The two organizations share a mission to help faith communities harness the power of their assets in order to be a transformational force for community economic renewal and vitality.  

“Too many churches do not realize the assets in their midst,” said CCG and Oikos founder Rev. Dr. Sidney Williams. Our “Fishing Differently” approach helps congregations recognize and utilize the resources within their church and community, creating more vibrant congregations and positive impact in the under-resourced communities they serve.” The Oikos Executive  Director is Rev. Dr. Reginald Blount, an AME pastor and an Associate Professor at Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary. “Learning communities are core to the process,” said Dr. Blount. “Together, participants discover and embrace their vocational identity and mission, and our partnerships provide the resources to help the congregations move their mission forward.”  

One such partner is Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF), a 40-year old community development finance institution that promotes the success of nonprofits by providing capital and strategic consulting, as well as working to transform the funding and financing landscape. NFF shares CCG and Oikos’ goal of supporting the agency of Black communities, and recently committed  $5 million in investment capital and its consulting expertise to the initiative.  

“This work requires a thoughtful combination of community organizing and design thinking with  flexible impact investing,” said Antony Bugg-Levine, NFF CEO. “CCG and Oikos have pioneered a proven approach that guides faith communities through a process to reimagine what is possible, build a collective vision, harness financial knowledge, and access the financing they need to bring that vision into reality. The process honors the tradition and legacy embedded in these properties and enables the church communities to maintain agency in the use and development of their assets. NFF is excited to bring to this crucial work our ability to tailor investments to meet community need and to support community leaders to access the knowledge that can enable them to take control of their financial future.”  

The first supportive ecosystem will be launched in the first quarter of 2021 in partnership with The Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta, Georgia. This partnership, entitled  “Thriving Prophetic Congregations: A Learning Journey with Black Congregations in the  Southeastern United States,” has been funded by a $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment.  “ITC is excited to partner with Crossing Capital Group and the Oikos Institute to launch this impactful program,” said Matthew Wesley Williams, President of ITC. “The Thriving Prophetic Congregations initiative will help missional congregations reimagine their assets and ministries to facilitate flourishing in the communities they serve.”

Oikos is working to develop similar ecosystem initiatives across the country, with efforts under way in Chicago, Washington, DC, and Raleigh-Durham, NC. “We aim to help faith communities move from a place of survival and scarcity toward a spirit of imagination and abundance,” said  Oikos Institute Executive Director Dr. Blount. “By embracing their role as an anchor institution, and having access to the resources and capital to fully realize this role, churches can be a transformational force for economic renewal.” 

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About Crossing Capital Group  

Crossing Capital Group (CCG) helps faith communities reimagine and steward their assets for the well-being of their community. CCG provides advisory services to equip communities with the vision, tools and multiple sources of capital required to plan, launch, and scale socially beneficial businesses and real estate development projects. 

About the Oikos Institute for Social Impact 

The Oikos Institute for Social Impact helps congregations harness the power of their assets in order to be a catalyst for communal transformation and economic renewal. Through strategic partnerships with seminaries, universities, foundations, government agencies and denominational judicatories, the Oikos Institute creates mutually supportive ecosystems that strengthen the Faith,  Intellectual, Social and Human Capital of congregations actively engaged in social impact and transformational work in the under-resourced communities they serve. 

About Nonprofit Finance Fund 

Nonprofit Finance Fund (NFF®) works toward a more equitable, responsive, and valued social sector. NFF provides financing and consulting to help nonprofits and their funders better connect money to mission results. They are a community development financial institution (CDFI) applying 40 years of experience to today’s toughest social challenges, and they share what they learn to speed progress. NFF manages over $335 million. Since 1980, they have provided more than $954 million in financing and access to additional capital in support of over $3 billion in projects for thousands of organizations nationwide. 

Last fall, Atlanta Tech Village launched Start It Up Georgia with the mission to provide free training, support, and guidance to all Georgians who wanted to become entrepreneurs.

 

Here are a few stats on the program:

• 709 people were accepted into the 13 week program.
• 56% were not in full-time work at the start of the program (either students, unemployed, retired, or part-time).
• 90% came from Georgia, but they also had participants from California, Arizona, Florida, New York, Maryland, North Carolina, Michigan, Washington, and more.
• 12 teachers volunteered their time and expertise to teach 12 Lesson Labs.
• 42 Mentors volunteered to meet with 350+ participants each week to support the founders as they built.
• 139 new companies were launched!
• 94% said the program was very helpful in launching their company.
• 103 people applied for grant funding.
• 7 startups were granted a cumulative $14,500.

 

“Start It Up Georgia (SIUG) provided us with the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs and business mentors in Georgia at a time when in-person networking was impossible due to COVID-19. Without SIUG we would have felt very isolated. Thanks to SIUG we were able to build a solid network, incorporate our business, and begin the customer discovery phase. Not only did SIUG provide information on the nuts and bolts on how to start a business, but also provided insights into the human side of running a company thanks to the weekly meetings with business mentors.” – Kevin DeMarco and Sergio Garcia, RIF Robotics Co-Founders

 

Learn more about RIF Robotics and the other grant funding winners below:

 

ANDREA BLAZIA

Blue Honey Homestead

Blue Honey Homestead crafts artisan products for the home – specializing in breads, soap and “garden-to-table” goods. We consider customers friends. We aim to enrich the lives of our friends, creating connections through baking, soap making and gardening. Get some of Andrea’s amazing bread today by visiting her website!

 

ALLAN MEADE

Concept Factory Atlanta 

Concept Factory Atlanta will be a smart collaborative hub and coworking space and will serve as a pipeline for visual storytellers to reach production studios and beyond while building community, relationships, and professional connections. Learn more about the great things to come from Concept Factory Atlanta today!

 

STEPHEN BUSSEY  & ANDY PEREZ

Clove

Clove’s Customer Hub: Clove gives your customers a central place to access everything post-sale. Increase adoption and renewals by connecting your product with your post-sale platforms. All in one place, beautifully packaged. Check out their website to learn more! 

 

ASHLEY TANKS

BLK JOY Coffee & Tea Counter

BLK JOY coffee & tea counter brings BLK coffee & BLK culture back together! They are a mobile counter serving specialty coffee sourced from Black & indigenous farmers steeped in the Black experience. Go see them in South Fulton for a delicious cup of BLK JOY & check out their Instagram today!

 

ELISSA RUSSEL

READI

READI re-skills low literate adults. READI assesses the team, creates and delivers workforce readiness trainings that address the workers literacy gaps and improves their employability. Elissa & READI are all about paying it forward and helping others. Learn more about the amazing work they are doing today by checking out their website! 

 

KEVIN DEMARCO

RIF Robotics Corp

RIF Robotics Corp is developing an autonomous mobile robot to help hospital managers reduce costs, errors, and infection rates with a robot that can assemble customized surgical case carts in a collaborative environment for robots and healthcare workers. Learn more about how they are serving the healthcare community here. 

 

STEVEN SIMMS

The Rural Urban Connection

The Rural Urban Connection is using eco-friendly (regenerative) agricultural practices to raise grass-fed beef in Georgia and deliver that beef to Metro-Atlanta consumers. You can find the Rural Urban Connection on Facebook!

 

Congrats to these founders and all the other graduates! And stay tuned for additional feature stories on SIUG winners over the coming weeks.