West USA via Calvert Foundation CIN
Loan
Raises funds for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in both the US and around the world
For millions of disadvantaged people in the U.S. and internationally, the door to financial opportunity is closed. Since 1995, Calvert Foundation has been working to open that door and let people in. Calvert Foundation is a nonprofit that has pioneered a new type of investing through our Community Investment Note that delivers a social and financial return. We make it possible for everyday people to invest in organizations around the world that empower people living in low-income communities.
The Note was the first retail impact investment with a global reach available to non-accredited investors, and through our new Women INvesting in Women INitiative (WIN-WIN), Calvert Foundation is the first organization to offer a retail impact investment product with a gender lens. We believe in giving a hand-up and enabling people to lift themselves out of poverty.
Summary
Calvert Foundation gives investors the opportunity to support community development groups building affordable housing, creating jobs and small businesses, and financing community facilities in Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Nevada.
Social Impact
Calvert Foundation has great partners that are actively working to provide affordable housing, jobs, and finance small businesses and community facilities in low-income communities throughout the Western USA. These groups have financed child care centers, job/workforce training programs, drug prevention facilities, low-income housing, farms, and many small businesses and social enterprises. We encourage you to learn more about the groups we support.
Impact Example
MACLA, which stands for Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana, is an inclusive contemporary arts space in San Jose, CA. Grounded in the Chicano/Latino experience, MACLA promotes civic dialogue and community transformation through new visual, literary and performance art. More than 30,000 children, youth, young adults, families and community residents participate in the 50 programs MACLA produces each year in four core program tracts: visual arts, performance and literary arts, youth arts education, and community development through the arts.
In February 2011, MACLA received $100,000 from Ford Foundation’s Space for Change Planning and Pre-Development Grant program, as well as several smaller pre-development grants, including a $10,000 grant from NCCLF, to expand its facility. The grants will cover the pre-development costs to determine practical uses for the additional space, such as administrative offices, artist’s studios and/or commercial space associated with their expansion. NCCLF will provide MACLA with pre-development consulting services, which will help MACLA envision its project. In addition, we will help identify potential funding sources for MACLA’s site redevelopment. MACLA’s contribution to uniting the art community has been critical in cultural-citizenship-building between the multi-culture communities that make up San Jose. NCCLF looks forward to helping them expand their mission and create a stronger presence in the community.
