MCCD advocates statewide for equitable housing and economic policies that generate wealth for people of color (BIPOC) and low-income communities. They focus on programs and initiatives that increase affordable housing, support small businesses and expand shared ownership models. In addition, MCCD empowers their members, renters, homeowners, entrepreneurs and worker cooperatives by providing opportunities and training to learn about advocating for policies and funding with lawmakers.

“We have been able to secure new funding at the state legislature for our members to carry out their work,” said Kari Johnson, MCCD’s director of policy. “We still have a housing shortage [and] we still have people that don’t have access to traditional bank capital.”

Since 2012, MCCD’s legislative advocacy has secured over $900 million in housing infrastructure bonds, providing capital to nonprofit developers and supporting the building and preservation of over 10,000 affordable homes. During that same time, MCCD secured over $90 million in small business funding to help businesses start, grow or transition into shared ownership models such as worker cooperatives. 

Over the past few years, some of MCCD’s affordable multifamily housing members notified the organization that they were struggling to get and maintain property insurance. These members are forced to go to the surplus lines market to obtain property insurance, leading to much higher premiums and less coverage – something they’re also seeing in the affordable homeownership market.

“We’re trying to help advocate for an expansion of the Minnesota FAIR Plan [and] support gaps in the private market so there is an alternative to the surplus lines,” Johnson said.

Following MCCD’s advocacy in 2025, the Minnesota legislature established a task force last year to examine rising property insurance costs for housing providers, homeowners and small businesses, with plans to pursue legislation for 2027 to address the issue.

In addition to their own advocacy, MCCD is empowering members to effectively advocate for themselves with the legislature. MCCD launched a state policy cohort last year to equip BIPOC professionals with the policy knowledge, skills and confidence to engage with the legislative process.

“For far too long, BIPOC professionals have been severely underrepresented in the policy space and BIPOC leaders are often asked to provide input on legislation without the ability to learn how to do so effectively yet held to different standards,” said Johnson. 

While MCCD focuses on state advocacy and policies, the team relies on the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) as an indispensable partner to track federal developments.

“It’s helpful because we don’t have a federal advocacy team,” Johnson notes. “If something big is happening, we really look to our national partners to let us know when we need to tap in and that’s a big reason why we remain members of NCRC.”

Kaitlyn Ridel is a Contributing Writer.

Photo description: Participants from MCCD’s 2025-2026 state policy cohort.

That was until Beltran connected with the Pima County Community Land Trust (PCCLT), a nonprofit that provides affordable housing to low- and moderate-income people in southern Arizona. The nonprofit helped her purchase an affordable home at a discounted price, even when banks told her she couldn’t afford one. 

Now, all Beltran thinks about is how she’s going to grow her seamstress business from her home rather than when she will be forced to move again. 

“Whenever someone comes to my house, they say, ‘Wow, look at how pretty your home is,’” Beltran said. “And to all the world, I say, ‘I went to the [Pima County] Community Land Trust, and all of them helped me out.’ For me, it’s a blessing.” 

PCCLT was founded in 2010 in response to the global financial crisis of 2008. The nonprofit works to create a steady supply of affordable homes in Pima County by rehabilitating existing affordable homes and developing new ones. Today, the organization has more than 127 properties in its portfolio. 

“We were created as a response to a crisis,” said Maggie Amado-Tellez, PCCLT’s executive director.

PCCLT also offers housing counseling services to about 150 households per year and connects homebuyers to down payment assistance through its partners at the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco and Pima County’s local government. 

“When people talk about affordable homes, they think of bricks and mortar, but it’s really about the families,” Amado-Tellez said. 

PCCLT’s work is happening at a time when many people in Arizona are struggling to find homes they can afford. Arizona has become one of the most desirable markets for global real estate investors because of the state’s population growth and tech employment. Meanwhile, the state has a gap of nearly 195,000 affordable homes for its lowest-income earners, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. 

“Housing isn’t sexy because the idea is still that people need to earn it, and they don’t understand that the playing field is not level,” Amado-Tellez said. 

Being part of the NCRC network has helped PCCLT navigate the local landscape by providing the tools and knowledge needed to secure funding. Amado-Tellez said NCRC’s research helped the organization navigate changes that the Department of Housing and Urban Development made to the Notice of Funding Opportunity for its Neighborhood Stabilization Grant. 

Litza Mendez, PCCLT’s operations manager, also credits NCRC’s educational resources for helping PCCLT’s housing counseling program remain in compliance. The training and oversight provided have not only helped PCCLT connect people with housing opportunities as part of NCRC’s Housing Counseling Network but also ensured that the organization put its Neighborhood Stabilization grant money to good use. 

“Providing training for a little nonprofit like PCCLT has really helped us provide for our community in ways we never imagined,” Mendez said.

Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of Pima County Community Land Trust.

Over the next decade, roughly six million baby boomer small business owners are expected to exit their companies, according to a recent McKinsey study. Over one million of these businesses, representing $5 trillion in value, will enter the market. 

At a time when wealth inequality in the US just hit a 30-year high, some owners are converting into employee-owned cooperatives that transfer wealth to workers rather than selling to private equity firms or shutting down. 

CFNE is a community development loan fund helping navigate this shift. While employee ownership can take various forms, such as employee stock ownership plans, CFNE finances worker-owned cooperatives, which are democratically-governed businesses where every employee has an equal say in major company decisions. 

For example, when the owner of O’Donal’s Nursery in Maine decided to retire, he wanted to preserve his legacy in the community and reward the people who helped him build the business. Rather than sell to outside buyers or close, he sold the business to his 36 employees.

Once the nursery converted in 2023, the new worker-owners hired a general manager, grew its revenue by $600,000, established a 401(k) plan, provided healthcare and raised wages. They went on to purchase 10 acres of land underneath the nursery to create supply chain resiliency, keeping the property locally-owned and helping to expand their operations.

O’Donal’s isn’t an isolated success story. Over the past decade, CFNE has financed 40 worker cooperatives with 39 still operating. 

The fund is part of the Northeast Transition Initiative, a collaboration with nonprofit developers the Cooperative Development Institute (CDI) and ICA Group, which aims to transfer wealth from one generation to the next through sales to workers. CFNE and CDI often work together to help business owners in the Northeast through the conversion process and by supporting employees as they become new owners. 

Going from employees to owners 

CDI works with local small business development centers and chambers of commerce to identify owners considering exit strategies by providing education on employee ownership models. CDI evaluates the business, assesses whether a sale is feasible and introduces the appropriate model to workers. 

If the employees decide to move forward, CDI helps them form a steering committee—which later becomes the cooperative governing board—to handle negotiations. CDI then supports the committee with ongoing business education, financial training and growth planning. 

“It’s a group of five or six employees who decide that they’re willing to do the work on behalf of the potential future cooperative to explore it and do the due diligence,” said Heather Foran, education and training manager for business ownership solutions at CDI. 

At this point in the process, CDI will connect the business with a cooperative lender like CFNE that can provide financing options. 

“One of the challenges in lending to cooperatives is if you’ve got 100 members, who’s going to put their house on the line? Who’s going to give the bank a personal guarantee? Banks tend to be nervous about trying to lend to something like that,” Edsell-Vetter said. 

CFNE fills that funding gap by evaluating and issuing loans based on the strength of the cooperative’s business model rather than individual personal guarantees. Typically, these transitions rely on some seller financing, where the retiring owner accepts payments over time. CFNE then provides loans to make up the difference. Some states like Colorado and Massachusetts are starting grant and incentive programs to help workers with these funding gaps.  

The broader impact of equitable ownership

CFNE has financed diverse conversions across the Northeast, including plant nurseries, architecture firms, hardware stores and landscape design companies like Earth Designs in New York, which converted to a worker cooperative in 2016 and has seen robust growth over the past decade. Last year, the fund helped Eastern Garage Door in Massachusetts become a worker-cooperative after 100 years in business. 

While financing may seem like the biggest hurdle to launching a worker cooperative, both Edsell-Vetter and Foran noted that the mental transition from an employee to an owner is often the biggest obstacle. 

“With conversions, one of the challenges is that you came into this job because you needed the job, not because you wanted to be your own boss,” Edsell-Vetter said. “There is really an ownership mindset shift that needs to happen.”

After making that leap, employees start to define success collectively rather than individually, working collaboratively on ideas that drive profit while serving customers, the community and each other. 

“Worker cooperatives are actually a highly resilient business model,” Foran said. “Workers know where to save money, they know what customers want and they’re very in touch with the market.”

To date, CDI has helped 40 small businesses transition to cooperatives, assisting them in securing over $45 million in capital and creating ownership opportunities for more than 700 workers in sectors ranging from manufacturing to energy and insurance. After converting, Foran said worker-owners have been able to move off government assistance programs, buy homes and save for their children’s college education. 

 “I think that the more that we can demonstrate that this is a viable business model in general, the more we can overcome the assumption that workers aren’t able to do this,” Foran said. 

Kaitlyn Ridel is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of the Cooperative Fund of the Northeast/Earth Designs.

Urban Neighborhood Initiatives (UNI) emerged from a coalition focused on a shared belief: Communities are best influenced by the people that live in them. What started as collaboration amongst residents grew into a place-based effort to strengthen Southwest Detroit’s Springwells neighborhood. 

UNI constructed an ecosystem designed around poverty reduction through a “cradle-to-career” pipeline, proactively providing assistance for their community. Their framework consists of a plethora of programs that provide opportunities for the youth in their community. 

Parents can enroll their newborns into the Flourishing to the Future program, a College Savings Account and Financial Literacy program for infants through 10 years olds. Enrollees receive matched funding in their college savings account, with UNI being entrusted to manage the funds for the accounts held by the child.

Students are also exposed to the Quality Team (Q-Team), a year round youth development program where they learn the intricacies of data collection and quality, receive hands-on training in graphic design, facilitation/leadership, research protocols and much more. 

These are just a few of UNI’s programs and partnerships that focus on social/emotional development and workforce exposure for the community’s youth. 

“At the end of the day, we’re addressing poverty by addressing our neighborhoods’ physical and human development needs so that as youth experience economic mobility they are also invested in the future of their neighborhood,” says Christine Bell, executive director of UNI.

In a 2024 census survey conducted by Data Driven Detroit, over 82% of neighborhood children are of Latine descent, with 36% of those children between the ages of 10-14, a crucial development window that UNI targets. 

If our 10-year-old fourth grader started in the program and continued through the Urban Neighborhood Initiative’s workforce development into early adulthood, they would be among the percentage of Latine children given opportunities to shape the trajectory of their future.

Via their partnership with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), UNI has strengthened its voice in conversations pertaining to community investment and economic development for their neighborhood in spaces like the Detroit Summit where they were invited by NCRC to speak on a panel discussion. 

“[NCRC] ensured that we were part of a panel that talked about economic mobility. They made certain that UNI’s priorities remain a priority with banks,” Bell said. “[NCRC’s] meetings have been helpful in being able to say to banks what is needed for our city.” 

After nearly three decades, UNI continues to prioritize the early and long term investment that does more than impact one person. It strengthens the community and the belief that an organized neighborhood is a harder neighborhood to disenfranchise.

Britni Brown is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of Urban Neighborhood Initiatives.

ULS has supported low- to moderate-income residents navigating housing, social security and public benefits challenges in Washington, DC since 1967. Their work has since expanded to include protecting the legal, civil and human rights of people with disabilities as well.

Supporting Housing Stability

The organization’s Housing Counseling Program (HCP) helps marginalized residents achieve homeownership and prevent foreclosure. Through their educational programming on topics such as foreclosure, budgeting, saving, improving credit and rehabilitating properties, residents are equipped with the tools to build and sustain long-term stability.

“Our typical client is a single mother with two kids who is interested in homeownership but uncertain if that goal is attainable,” says ULS’ Executive Director Jane Brown. “Our counselors are more than counselors – they are cheerleaders. Our clients feel relieved and confident leaving here knowing they have help navigating the path to homeownership.”

HCP offers workshops on city-sponsored housing programs in English and Spanish. The program also provides clients with opportunities for one-on-one collaboration with HUD-certified, bilingual housing counselors. 

Protecting Rights and Expanding Independence

For many residents, housing stability alone is not enough. ULS also works to ensure people with disabilities have the rights, access and support needed to stay in their homes and fully participate in their communities. 

ULS serves as the District’s designated Protection and Advocacy agency, providing legal advocacy and support services to protect the rights and well-being of people with disabilities. Its Disability Rights DC programs focus on protecting legal rights, strengthening independence and expanding access to community services and public accommodations – such as home health aids and employment supports – for people with disabilities. 

ULS also leads the DC Assistive Technology Program, which expands access to tools and resources that support greater autonomy in daily life.

Additionally, the organization’s Jail and Prison Advocacy Program advocates for returning citizens with psychiatric disabilities, intellectual disabilities, traumatic brain injuries and co-occurring substance use disorders in DC.

“We help ensure people are free from abuse and neglect, aware of their rights and that their rights are protected,” Brown says. “We blend housing counseling with disability rights services to work with people being released from DC jails. This not only impacts their ability to return to the community, but also cuts back on recidivism.”

Powering Impact with Support From NCRC

Sustaining this high level of service is increasingly challenging amid ongoing budget cuts. For ULS, these constraints directly affect their staffing capacity and the overall scope of services provided to residents.

“We rely on financial support from powerhouse national organizations like NCRC to accomplish our mission,” Brown says. “Funding from NCRC closes gaps and helps us retain services that have a huge impact on the community while ensuring more residents can remain in their homes and communities.”

Nicole Rothstein is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of University Legal Services.

For Claudia Wilson Randall, executive director of the Community Development Network of Maryland (CDN), the priority is clear: “The work has to center on the people who will be impacted by the policies, not the policies themselves.”

Every legislative session, Wilson Randall brings that momentum to Annapolis. CDN’s priority is the state budget because it determines how much capital reaches the communities her member organizations serve.

“Everything we do is about access to capital for communities that don’t have it,” Wilson Randall said.

Montgomery County is one of the wealthiest in the country, but it faces a serious affordable housing problem. Over the past seven years, CDN has acted as the backbone of the Montgomery Housing Alliance, coordinating nonprofit affordable housing developers, service providers and advocates to lobby together as a coalition. Once they aligned forces, the money followed with more than $316 million committed since 2023 to create and preserve nearly 4,400 affordable homes through the county’s Housing Initiative Fund.

That mission grounds a network of more than 180 organizations across Maryland, including community development corporations, governments and revitalization groups. CDN provides members with training, advocacy and technical resources to deliver housing counseling, homeownership and workforce programs statewide.

This work relies on CDN’s partnership with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC). By leveraging NCRC’s research and tracking of lending disparities, CDN strengthens its advocacy with data, giving practitioners a tool to reinforce their campaigns.

CDN applies that same connective approach to health equity by championing Community Aging in Place, Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE). Developed at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, the model pairs a registered nurse, an occupational therapist and a handy worker for in-home visits helping older adults age safely.

A $4.1 million federal investment funded the program, with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimating $6.8 million in three-year savings from reduced hospital visits.

The economic landscape adds urgency as Maryland shed nearly 25,000 federal jobs over the last year.

Communities cannot survive on housing alone. They need jobs, services and investment. However, the conversations rarely happen across sectors.

“The work is so siloed,” she says. “It is difficult to get people to have interdisciplinary conversations.”

Breaking those silos is not partisan: it is the foundation of community development. Despite a two-thirds Democratic legislature, Maryland remains centrist, with rural, suburban and urban communities sharing the need for investment.

“I want people to lock arms with each other and stand together,” Wilson Randall said. “We’ve got to be clear about what the benefit is for people. Not markets. Not their credit score.”

With organizers in Baltimore City and Montgomery County and initiatives planned for Howard and Prince George’s counties, CDN plans to build infrastructure for local advocacy to make equitable community development a reality. For the communities it serves, that is what a just economy looks like in practice.

Aba Hammond is a Contributing Writer.

Picture of CEO Claudia Wilson Randall courtesy of the Community Development Network of Maryland.

Myrold never has to pay more than 30% of his income on rent at the 81-unit community. More importantly, he has rekindled his love of playing pool and no longer worries about moving again. 

“This is the longest I have ever stayed in one place, and the security is very important to me,” Mynold said. 

Myrold’s experience at Crossroads is one of the many stories that showed Dan Madler, Beyond Shelter Inc.’s chief executive officer, and his team how important their work truly is. It also reinforced the point that affordable housing is a foundational part of living a healthy and meaningful life. 

“Housing is more than just shelter,” Madler said. “It’s foundational to all positive life outcomes. Housing is connected to one’s health, education, employment, safety and so on. And, essentially, without housing, nothing else works.”

NCRC member organization Beyond Shelter, Inc. is a mission-driven housing developer that has been around for 26 years. Over that time, it has built and preserved more than 1,700 housing units across 54 different developments. The organization also has two additional buildings estimated for completion in the fall of 2027, which will add 78 more units to its portfolio. 

The organization’s housing development models range from preservation and revitalization to new construction. Beyond Shelter also builds and operates different housing types, including senior housing, multifamily buildings and supportive housing. 

Beyond Shelter’s work is happening at a time when housing affordability continues to worsen across the Peace Garden State. The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that there are only 53 rental homes available for every 100 North Dakotans earning less than $25,000 per year. 

To Madler, Beyond Shelter’s work starts with the simple belief that everyone deserves a quality, affordable place to call home. 

“Without stable housing, people live in fear,” Madler said. “With it, they gain security, connection and dignity.”

Madler added that Beyond Shelter’s long-term goal is to reach $150 million in assets by December 31, 2035, a goal he describes as critical to expanding the organization’s impact.

He emphasized that those assets are not the mission, but the engine that allows the organization to develop and preserve more housing, respond to community needs and deliver long-term impact.

“That impact will last long after I’m gone,” Madler said. “That growth will give us flexibility to say ‘Yes’ when communities need our help.”

Madler went on to say that partnerships, especially with organizations like the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), have been important in expanding access to resources and relationships that support affordable housing. He explained that organizations like NCRC help ensure private investment reaches communities that are often overlooked by supporting their affordable housing efforts.

For instance, last year, NCRC and Old National Bank negotiated an addendum to the bank’s multi-year Community Growth Plan that unlocked $1.6 billion in new funding for organizations in North Dakota, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

“NCRC helps ensure that private investment reaches the communities that are often overlooked,” Madler said.

Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of Beyond Shelter, Inc.

Since 1991, the nonprofit has created over 600 affordable residential housing units and 500,000 square feet of commercial space that provide employment opportunities and services essential to a good quality of life. 

“We’re different from many community development corporations because we don’t just focus on housing… we focus on catalytic transformation development,” says Community Builders’ President and CEO Emmet Pierson. “We’re known for brick-and-mortar projects, but that’s just one piece of the ecosystem we’re building.”

Turning Disinvestment into Development

Community Builders concentrates its work on Kansas City’s east side – a predominantly African American and historically under-resourced area. 

“Disinvestments run abound,” Pierson explains. “Banks are not falling over themselves to invest here – we have to force the issue.”

Yet, the nonprofit is turning challenge into opportunity with a recently-constructed 60,000-square-foot office building – the new headquarters for the Health Forward Foundation, dedicated to creating healthier communities. 

“This billion-dollar foundation is here for the long haul – investing, growing and signaling hope and economic opportunity,” Pierson says. 

The mixed-use site also includes multi-family housing, a health and fitness trail and a welcoming public plaza.

A Cornerstone of Community Wealth-Building

Community Builders employs 1,100 people and contributes over $5 million in taxes to the local economy – helping stabilize a community often left on the margins. They view wealth-building through a holistic lens driven by reliable employment, access to benefits and long-term economic security.

Across all of Community Builders’ ventures, workers earn above a living wage and receive an equitably comprehensive benefit package.

“I have the same benefits as the grocery store clerk,” Pierson says.

The organization also supports other nonprofits and local developers, such as MO Hives KC, which transforms vacant urban lots into thriving bee farms that pollinate local food gardens and provide a wide range of experiential learning opportunities.

“If I’m not wealthy in my spirit – if I’m at work worried that my kids don’t have adequate healthcare – that stunts my productivity,” Pierson explains. “If I’m worried about bills or working two jobs to afford my house, am I on the path to wealth? Maybe, but I don’t think so.”

A Voice at the Table

As an NCRC member, Community Builders is given a platform to spotlight barriers facing communities and the practitioners on the frontlines. 

During a major local bank merger, NCRC invited Pierson to address the bank’s senior leadership team on how they can better support under-resourced neighborhoods.

“We helped the banking industry understand that investing in those areas they deem to be not as profitable as others is what it means to be good stewards of the community,” Pierson explains. “Having the platform to say that is incredibly impactful. NCRC gave us a voice.”

Nicole Rothstein is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of Community Builders of Kansas City.

Founded in 2017 by Malcolm Sykes, a former banker and the former Vice President of Business Development for Wells Fargo, NCRC member organization Private Leverage was created to close this gap by prioritizing clients that have historically been excluded from traditional capital markets. 

Private Leverage’s clients are neighbors, community members and known individuals rather than anonymous applicants. Since 2017, Private Leverage has deployed well over $25 million to Texas residents.

“Since larger banks control the majority of capital, smaller loans don’t move the needle for them,” said Sykes. “We can support smaller loans because of our size, which results in shorter processing times and lower administrative costs.”

Any loan from a financial institution requires trust and involves risk, with relationship building being a key component of a successful lending partnership. Unlike traditional banks that focus heavily on credit metrics, Sykes says that Private Leverage is “building trust with clients through community relationships, long standing familiarity with borrowers and understanding the personal circumstances of the community it’s lending to.” 

Private Leverage is also helping entrepreneurs and community members reduce their dependency on short-term rental agreements by prioritizing long-term property ownership. For so many small business owners, leasing commercial real estate leaves them vulnerable to elements out of their control like rent increases, inadequate property maintenance or even unexpected displacement. 

By reducing barriers, building direct relationships with borrowers and prioritizing communities often overlooked by traditional institutions, Private Leverage is reshaping what access to capital can look like at the local level.

Through the organization’s community-based lending model, ownership-focused financing and a capital pipeline that prepares businesses for long term stability, Private Leverage supports entrepreneurs in building assets and economic stability. 

Through Private Leverage’s partnership with NCRC, they are able to bring community needs directly to major financial institutions and influence how capital is deployed. 

“NCRC is getting Private Leverage in the room with these larger banks and helping us to balance the scales,” said Sykes.

Looking ahead, the organization is positioning itself to deepen that impact. Through efforts like pursuing membership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and also looking to partner with Equity Equivalent Investments (EQ2) to strengthen its capital base and expand its lending capacity. 

These strategic steps will allow the organization to reach more entrepreneurs, support more families and continue building pathways to homeownership in communities where access has historically been limited. Each loan is more than capital – it is a step toward stability, ownership and long-term wealth creation.

At its core, Private Leverage’s work is both necessary and transformative, creating access, building trust and helping communities move from dependency to ownership one investment at a time. 

“This is the systemic problem that we are solving,” said Sykes. “Providing this local underserved community capital and assistance that they do not have with these larger institutions increasing economic empowerment through ownership.”

Britni Brown is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of Private Leverage.

Redressing this legacy is exactly what the San Francisco Housing Development Corporation (SFHDC) seeks to do. Formed in 1988, NCRC member organization SFHDC advocates for and organizes resources to create affordable housing, expand opportunities for Black-owned businesses and improve the health of communities impacted by urban renewal.

“We’re a small but mighty organization doing God’s work, as are many around the country,” SFHDC Executive Director David Sobel said. 

SFHDC runs four core programs to support its mission: affordable housing development and preservation, economic development, Black small business development and its HUD-certified housing navigation program. All four programs serve an estimated 5,000 people per year, 85% of whom are people of color and around 45% are Black or African American. 

As of 2026, the organization has supported the development of more than 1,700 affordable housing units, ranging from senior living to permanent supportive housing. The organization currently has 694 units under construction and 247 in the pre-construction phase. Six new SFHDC-supported buildings are slated for completion between 2026 and 2029. 

The organization’s housing counseling services are also available to help renters navigate the challenges posed by San Francisco’s expensive housing market. More than 70% of the 1,100+ people who attended an SFHDC housing counseling workshop were seeking pre-purchase advice. 

One of their program offerings is a financial empowerment program that helps renters become homeowners. Some other classes include credit rebuilding, money management and rental assistance. Last year, the organization helped 31 families make the leap from renting to becoming homeowners.

“In San Francisco, being one of the most expensive cities in the country, it’s all that much tougher for people to create a stable life,” said Sobel. “I think for people of color in particular, it’s even tougher most of the time.”  

SFHDC also provides technical assistance support for BIPOC entrepreneurs. For instance, SFHDC’s Minding My Black-Owned Business cohort provides 12 weeks of business development support to local Black entrepreneurs, who can also qualify for grants of up to $10,000 upon completing the program. Last year, the program served 100 entrepreneurs, including 28 culinary businesses that each received $7,500 grants. In total, the program contributed more than $2 million to Black-owned businesses.  

NCRC’s funding and technical support have been invaluable to SFHDC’s continued growth. SFHDC received funding and training from NCRC to support its housing navigation services. NCRC’s networking events and conferences have also been a great way for SFHDC to support and learn from other nonprofits. 

“The guidance of NCRC gives us a bit of a spiritual boost,” Sobel said. “To know we are not fighting this battle alone is important.” 

Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of the SFHDC team.

Russell: A Place of Promise (RPOP) has been educating residents about real estate planning, engaging them in the land development process and working with them to establish the community’s investment needs.

Launched in 2018, RPOP began as a fiscally sponsored project of the Community Foundation of Louisville and two incubating partners: Cities United and the Louisville Metro Government. Interim co-executive directors Cassandra Webb and Theresa Zawacki have led the initiative since its beginning, drawing on their respective backgrounds in community organizing and urban planning.

“We were very intentional from the beginning about investing in people first because oftentimes, in community development, that is an afterthought or just a piece of the process,” Webb said. “We wanted to do things differently.”

They began by gathering residents, workers, small business owners and nonprofits with the goal of better understanding the specific investments the community needed. They built coalitions, provided educational training on urban planning and convened working groups to define RPOP’s future and strategic priorities.

“We’ve been building a system of shared decision making and shared learning with Russell residents,” Zawacki said. “Our goals are to build Black community wealth and to invest without displacement.”

In 2023, RPOP became an independent nonprofit in the form of a community land trust (CLT). CLTs are nonprofits that own and develop property specifically for residents’ needs. They are governed by a board of directors primarily composed of community members who participate directly in the land use planning process.

Central to RPOP’s vision is investing in people and amplifying resident voices. In 2022, RPOP founded the Russell Storytelling Project as a way to highlight the community’s rich history. Six artists and writers collected oral histories from over 30 residents to create an art exhibition and book, For the People, which celebrates the citizens of Russell.

The exhibit will be housed at 30th & Madison, RPOP’s flagship project. The $150 million, five-acre development is expected to break ground this year. The site will house medical, retail and co-working spaces, as well as restaurants and a multi-story residential building with roughly 120 mixed-income apartments.

The team is also partnering with The Housing Partnership, Inc. to build 25 new single-family, permanently affordable homes on Elliot Avenue in Russell. The project is expected to break ground this spring. 

“Now, our programming [is] getting folks prepared to be homeowners for those new homes that we’re building,” Webb said. 

Through its membership with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, RPOP has connected with organizations doing similar work across the country.   

“I think there’s huge value in being able to be connected to a network that is focused on policy change and model development and best practices around sustainability,”  Zawacki said. 

Kaitlyn Ridel is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of the RPOP team.

Two Decades of Growth and Transformation

What began in 2005 as a grassroots effort has grown into a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and a Tennessee Housing Development Agency Homebuyer Education Initiative Trainer.

YCMIHOC is also a proud member of NCRC’s Housing Counseling Network (HCN), a national network of HUD-approved agencies committed to advancing equitable access to housing opportunities through high-quality counseling, education and advocacy. 

“I started by doing homebuyer education classes out of my clothing store,” says Deborah Harding, YCMIHOC’s founder and executive director. “That’s how the dream started.”

Over two decades, YCMIHOC’s personalized counseling, first-time homebuyer education and post-purchase support have helped more than 6,500 people navigate the homebuying process and pursue long-term financial stability.

In 2024, the organization assisted 817 households – 506 through homebuyer education and 257 through counseling services – helping create over $126 million in wealth-generating value for program participants.

Vicki Carter, YCMIHOC’s grant writer, says those outcomes are notable given that only about 3% of available housing falls between $100,000 and $200,000, while Nashville’s average home price exceeds $400,000.

“We still had 325 people close on a house [in 2024],” says Carter. “That’s significant considering the housing market. People still dream of owning a home.”

One particularly inspiring story is of a veteran who purchased his first home at the age of 80 with YCMIHOC’s guidance – proving it’s never too late to achieve the dream of homeownership.

Ripple Effect of Homeownership

YCMIHOC’s work goes beyond helping families purchase homes. It has a ripple effect on entire communities.

“Mortgage loans drive economic growth,” Carter explains. “Each loan goes into the ecosystem and supports jobs and strengthens businesses and neighborhoods.”

Home sales also generate significant tax revenue, supporting local communities and fueling economic growth across multiple industries.

“There’s what they call the multiplier effect, with millions in total economic activity spanning construction, realtors, closing services, furniture and appliances,” Carter says. “That entire economic engine is why we promote this level of homeownership.”

Laying the Groundwork for Generational Stability

Although not all clients become homeowners, YCMIHOC ensures they are equipped to control their financial futures and contribute to their communities.

“We talk about building generational wealth – how to save, budget and build credit,” Harding explains. “Even if they don’t buy a home, they have the tools to be successful.”

A core part of YCMIHOC’s work is educating the community about predatory payday lenders – which often target lower-income individuals and trap them in cycles of debt – and guiding clients toward safe, affordable financial options.

“Knowledge is so powerful [and is] the first step toward financial wellness,” Harding explains. “Once you learn something, nobody can take it away.”

For YCMIHOC, that knowledge doesn’t just prepare individuals and families for homeownership – it unlocks doors toward sustainable wealth, independence and community growth.

Nicole Rothstein is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of the YCMIHOC team.

Nashville Organized for Action and Hope (NOAH) is a multi-racial and interdenominational coalition of churches, synagogues, mosques, community organizations, nonprofits and labor unions working to change unjust systems and policies.

With over 50 member organizations, NCRC member organization NOAH acts as a unified voice for the faith and justice community in Nashville by working to dismantle systemic racism by ensuring residents are engaged and educated on the economic and social issues impacting them. 

“NOAH’s mission is really focused around the work of justice, which is foundational to most faiths,” said Kay Bowers, NOAH’s finance committee chair. “It involves affecting change at the system level – that our housing systems, our legal systems [and] our education systems function in a way that’s fair and gives people the ability to thrive.”

NOAH originated from another nonprofit called Tying Nashville Together in 1993, which was developed by a diverse group of faith leaders with the goal of breaking down silos between people of different backgrounds and advocating for social justice. In 2014, NOAH was established as part of Gamaliel, a national nonprofit that trains faith leaders in building diverse community coalitions and grassroots movements. 

Social justice through affordable housing 

NOAH’s work is divided across four core programmatic taskforces focused on transformational justice, affordable housing, education and economic equity. Through these taskforces, NOAH identifies priority issues and advocates on the community’s behalf with political candidates, public officials and businesses. 

Some of the coalition’s most impactful work is in the affordable housing ecosystem. NOAH was instrumental in establishing Nashville’s Barnes Housing Trust Fund, which provides public funding for affordable housing in the metro area. Since 2013, the fund has leveraged $108 million to create over 6,000 affordable housing units. 

In 2025, the community organizing efforts of NOAH’s affordable housing taskforce helped lead to the passage of zoning changes in Nashville to produce more middle class housing in the face of the city’s housing shortage.

Nashville is also undergoing a significant redevelopment project along the city’s Cumberland River. As part of the first phase of redevelopment, over 900 units of housing are being built. With NOAH’s advocacy, roughly 400 units will be designated as affordable housing for low- to moderate-income people. 

“It’s on metro land and it has to remain affordable for 99 years,” Bowers said. “So it’s almost permanent affordability – and that’s a first.”

Supporting the mission with NCRC

As NOAH works to advance social justice policies in Nashville, NCRC has become a valued partner for the organization, with Bowers acting as a Host Committee member for NCRC’s Nashville Summit this past September.

NOAH’s membership in NCRC has led to other fruitful cross-sector collaborations. For instance, in November of last year, Bowers helped organize NCRC’s webinar “Building Together: Community Voices, Hospitals and Banks Advancing Housing and Health” alongside Garrett O’Dwyer, the policy director of NCRC member Philadelphia Association of Community Development Corporations (PACDC) and Rolanda Lister, the founder and CEO of NOAH member organization BLOOM (Building Life Opportunities and Options for Mothers). The webinar provided case studies and exchanged best practices for effective ways to bring different stakeholders together.

“We now have a place to go to ask questions and get research and information that we may not know – that’s extremely valuable,” Bowers said.  

Kaitlyn Ridel is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of the Nashville Organized for Action and Hope team.

Capital for Change was born from a need to fill these gaps in communities across Connecticut. Established in 2016, Capital for Change is a community development financial institution (CDFI) headquartered in Wallingford, Connecticut that provides accessible financing options in communities throughout the state. 

“We really listen to what the community is trying to accomplish and the challenges they’re facing to understand how our financing can help them remove barriers and solve problems,” said Capital for Change’s CEO Diane Smith. 

Capital for Change’s programs fall into two areas: lending assistance and housing counseling services. On the lending side, Capital for Change offers a variety of financing options, such as commercial loans, small business financing and consumer lending. Some of Capital for Change’s most noteworthy loan programs include energy-efficiency upgrades for homeowners, financing to build or preserve affordable housing and working capital loans for nonprofits. 

In total, Capital for Change has deployed roughly $110 million throughout Connecticut for community and economic development programs and initiatives. That has included more than $95 million in financing for affordable housing construction and preservation and $225 million for homeownership support for more than 25,000 households. During the last fiscal year, the organization’s financing efforts helped preserve 376 affordable housing units, created nearly 50 jobs and prevented 31 households from being evicted. 

Capital for Change also provides one-on-one housing counseling services and homeownership workshops. The organization hosted 109 counseling sessions last year, with 13 participants moving on to purchase a home of their own. 

“We’ve got a tool for every type of need in the community development space and that allows us to be able to participate more strategically,” Smith said. “So, we don’t have to do everything, but we might have the thing that you need that makes the difference.” 

Working with NCRC has helped take Capital for Change’s work to new heights. For example, NCRC regularly convenes members from the for-profit and mission-driven lending worlds to explore how they can support one another. NCRC’s community benefit agreements have also helped Capital for Change unlock financing opportunities via traditional banks and lenders for historically disadvantaged communities. 

“It’s where banks and community organizations get to have the conversations about what’s important to them and what they can and cannot do,” Smith said. “NCRC is building the table where that’s possible.” 

Robert Davis is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of Capital for Change.

When Kenneth Bigos joined AHCOPA as their Executive Director in 2013, he set out to expand the organization’s offerings beyond first-time homeownership counseling services. He identified estate planning as an urgent need for the region’s LMI communities as well. 

A 2022 Consumer Reports survey found that 77% of Black and 82% of Hispanic Americans do not have a will in place, which is needed to ensure that their home investment continues to build generational wealth. Consequently, the state court steps in upon the owner’s passing to decide how assets will be distributed, with property not being able to be transferred to an heir until that lengthy process is complete. In Philadelphia alone, there are approximately 10,000 properties with titles that have not been legally settled. 

In response to this, AHCOPA launched the Will Power program in 2022 by leveraging existing relationships with pro-bono lawyers in the creation of wills and trusts for community members. The program has created an opportunity to serve a larger portion of Philadelphia’s population. 

While the first-time homebuyer program initially attracted people in their mid-30s, Will Power participants are generally in their late 60s, prompting AHCOPA to think about what housing support looks like across an individual’s lifetime.

“Elderly households are more vulnerable,” Bigos said. “To reach these homeowners, we had to develop relationships with trusted agencies, such as senior centers, churches and other institutions that we would not typically work with in our first-time homebuyer program.”

As a result of that  work, AHCOPA marked a major milestone in October 2025: the signing of 1,000 wills. Thanks to the success of Will Power and the first-time homebuyer program, AHCOPA has solidified its reputation as the go-to financial advisor for working-class residents. 

Looking ahead, they are planning to add a new program designed to support people beyond the initial purchase of their home, which will include coaching to help owners develop their financial literacy. This would encompass how to build savings to buy a first home and avoid foreclosure in the event of a crisis.

For Bigos, NCRC membership is key to ensuring the success of these programs, especially in terms of organizing at the federal, state and local levels advocating for continued funding. 

“Engaging with decision makers is very important and being an NCRC member has helped facilitate those relationships,” Bigos said. “Their support has been very impactful.”

Jesse Rhodes is a Contributing Writer.

Photo courtesy of the AHCOPA team.