Citi Foundation Partners in Progress (PIP) Grant Program

In January 2009, the Citi Foundation announced that it is providing funding to local community development organizations in 20 urban communities across the country to support innovative, physical development and rehabilitation projects – known as "place-based initiatives" – that champion the long-term or large scale revitalization of low- and moderate-income communities.

The Partners in Progress (PIP) Grant Program was started 1997 to help leading community organizations implement physical development or revitalization of underserved areas. Though PIP began as New York-based and regionally-based grants, this year the Citi Foundation expanded PIP to a national program.

Through PIP, the Citi Foundation is awarding local community development organizations grants of $100,000, totaling more than $2 million. The grants will support pre-development costs for construction, rehabilitation and revitalization of affordable housing, commercial corridors, and retail and neighborhood facilities, such as childcare centers and community centers, in low- to moderate-income communities.

Of the 21 projects selected for the program, more than half include environmentally sustainability as a critical aspect of the initiative and one-third include transit-oriented developments.

Arlington, Virginia & Washington, D.C.

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipients in the Washington, D.C. metro area are the Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), which was established in 1983 to respond to the needs of the growing immigrant community in the Washington, D.C. metro area, and the MANNA Community Development Corporation, a community development corporation responsible for all community development activities in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

The ECDC plans to renovate and modernize a 50,000 square foot, multi-purpose office building, which will house ECDC's offices as well as a business incubator, classrooms for educational and vocational training programs, a computer lab, conference and meeting facilities, offices for other nonprofit agencies and retail stores. ECDC's project is part of the Columbia Pike Initiative, a larger urban revitalization initiative in the area.

The Northern Virginia area has an immigrant population of 15 percent and nearly 11 percent of this population is living in poverty. Columbia Pike is recognized as one of the most diverse regions in the greater Washington, D.C. area, with immigrants from more than 128 countries.

MANNA Community Development Corporation plans to build 20 new affordable condominium units for low- to moderate-income families on two sites in Ivy City, a low-income neighborhood adjacent to Gallaudet University in the Northeast quadrant of Washington, D.C. Ivy City, which has a median household income of $17,422 and a poverty rate of 44 percent, is one of the most disinvested neighborhoods in Washington, D.C., with 163 abandoned properties.

This project is part of the "Home Again Initiative", a plan led by Washington, D.C.'s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development to utilize infill developments to increase housing and improve housing conditions. The overall goal of the initiative is to create homeownership opportunities for 60 low- to moderate-income families and revitalize the Ivy City neighborhood. To date, the "Home Again Initiative" has acquired 37 lots in the neighborhood and helped create public-private partnerships to develop at least 60 housing units on the lots. The housing plans were developed by interviewing residents to determine the type of housing the community needed most.

For more information on the Ethiopian Community Development Council, please click here.

For more information on the MANNA Community Development Corporation, please click here.

Austin, Texas

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Austin is Foundation Communities, a non-profit organization that creates high-quality affordable housing and empowers low-income families and individuals with programs that educate, support and improve financial standing.

Foundation Communities plans to develop 150 units of new, affordable, mixed-income green housing near the soon to open Austin MetroRail, the first commuter rail line in Austin. The organization is currently working with public officials to identify and secure sites at four of the nine new Austin MetroRail stops. Of the 150 units, Foundation Communities will allocate 120 units for low-income families, 15 units for homeless families or individuals and 15 units for market rate renters. In addition to the housing units, plans will include a childcare center, a community space and a pedestrian-friendly retail space. Foundation Communities plans to use green building methods for the project.

The Austin area is in critical need of affordable housing as the population is forecasted to grow from 750,000 to one million over the next decade and the current rent for a two-bedroom apartment is double what a low-income family can afford. The poverty rate in the area has increased 35 percent over the past seven years. Additionally, more than 1,100 affordable housing units were recently converted to condos, thus diminishing the already limited supply of affordable housing in the area.

For more information on Foundation Communities, please click here.

Baltimore, Maryland

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipients in Baltimore are The Reinvestment Fund (TRF), a national innovator in capitalizing distressed communities and stimulating economic growth for low- and moderate-income families, and East Baltimore Development Inc. (EBDI), a nonprofit partnership of private and public entities that is undertaking the single largest redevelopment project in Baltimore, transforming 88 acres with $1.8 billion in new investments.

TRF is engaged in the Preston Place development, which will result in 122 affordable homes for sale in the Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore. This housing development project is in conjunction with other revitalization efforts by the Johns Hopkins University and the East Baltimore Development, Inc.

Construction of the Preston Place townhouses is already underway and five Energy Star-certified homes have already been completed and sold as part of the first phase. Over the next four years, TRF plans to begin building five new units every two months. These two and three-bedroom townhouses will be sold for nearly $140,000 each to families earning up to 80 percent of the area median income. Prospective buyers will be given extensive pre- and post-purchase counseling and will be offered a series of home maintenance workshops.

The Oliver neighborhood has faced years of disinvestment, and 14.5 percent of the area's properties are currently vacant. One hundred percent of the community's residents have annual incomes below 80 percent of the area's median income and 56 percent have annual incomes below $25,000. Drug abuse rates are among the highest in the entire country.

EBDI and its Greenhab Housing Program will provide affordably priced housing for low- to moderate-income families and will incorporate green building standards and energy efficient building materials. Citi Foundation funds will support the renovation of up to 150 row houses in East Baltimore, one of the most distressed neighborhoods in the country with a poverty rate of 33 percent and an unemployment rate of 14 percent. The Greenhab program is part of a larger Green Initiative that seeks to turn East Baltimore into the "greenest" community in Baltimore.

For more information on The Reinvestment Fund, please click here.

For more information on East Baltimore Development, Inc., please click here.

Boston, Massachusetts

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipients in the greater Boston metro area are the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, a nonprofit founded in 1979 by local civic groups to address the problems of economic disinvestment, quality and affordable housing, unemployment, crime, and community tensions resulting from prejudice, discrimination and language barriers, and Somerville Community Corporation (SCC), a membership organization that provides leadership for sustaining the city of Somerville as a vibrant, diverse and tolerant community.

Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, a member of the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative, plans to bring transit equity to the 175,000 primarily low- to moderate-income residents of the distressed neighborhoods along the nine-mile Fairmount line. The collaborative plans to create so-called urban villages with new affordable housing, open space and other services that will benefit the low- to moderate-income residents who live near the line. The collaborative expects to construct 1,500 new units of housing, 780,000 square feet of commercial real estate space, two green-job centers and a new six-mile Greenway of open space along the Fairmount Corridor. The project also hopes to create 1,365 new jobs.

The SCC will support the development of its comprehensive land use initiative along the Green Line corridor in Boston. The initiative will assist 2,000 primarily low- to moderate-income individuals who reside along the corridor. Forty-two and a half percent of Somerville residents are low- or very low-income and the area has a poverty rate of nearly 13 percent.

For more information on the Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, please click here.

For more information on the Somerville Community Corporation, please click here.

Brooklyn, New York

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Brooklyn, N.Y. is the Fifth Avenue Committee (FAC), a community group that seeks to advance social and economic justice principally by developing and managing affordable housing, and community facilities, creating economic opportunities, organizing residents and workers, providing student-centered adult education opportunities, and combating displacement caused by gentrification. The FAC, the only non-profit member of the Gowanus Green Partnership, plans to restore and revitalize Public Place, a 5.8-acre brownfield site along the Gowanus Canal, with 774 units of affordable housing , community and retail facilities, parking spaces and a public park.

In the spring of 2008, the City of New York's Department of Housing Preservation and Development named the Gowanus Green Partnership – which is comprised of the FAC and three for-profit development partners – as the design and development team for Public Place. In its winning bid to develop the site, the Gowanus Green Partnership presented plans that include: nine buildings with 774 units of housing, of which 70 percent will be permanently affordable to households with incomes between 30 percent and 130 percent of the area median income; 120 units of affordable senior housing; 65,000 square feet of community facilities and retail space; 365 below-grade parking spaces; and three acres of open space, including a public park. Construction on this project is expected to begin in mid-2012 and completed in 2015. Once completed, Gowanus Green will be a LEED-certified neighborhood, and is expected to become a national model for urban community development.

For more information on the Fifth Avenue Committee, please click here.

Chicago, Illinois

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Chicago is the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation (LCDC), a non-profit housing organization that seeks to revitalize the lives and environments of Lawndale residents through economic empowerment, housing improvements, educational enrichments and community advocacy.

LCDC is developing a mixed-use apartment building with 42 units of affordable rental housing and 4,000 square feet of commercial space in the Martin Luther King Historic District of Chicago. LCDC and other community organizations recently formed the MLK40 Task Force, a consortium aimed at developing this historical district, in which Dr. King lived in 1966 during his Chicago campaign. The MLK40 Task Force seeks to develop a four-acre lot, which includes the property where Dr. King and his family resided. In addition to the housing units, other projects on the site include: a community center, a park, a memorial to Dr. King, an affordable housing museum and a library. Construction is expected to begin in the summer of 2009.

North Lawndale's economy has been drastically altered as a result of the departure of several major employers. Today, North Lawndale's median income is $20,253, the poverty rate is 42 percent and the unemployment rate is 26 percent. Of the housing that remains in North Lawndale, 30 percent is in poor condition and 15 percent is vacant. The community has more than 1,000 vacant lots.

For more information on the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation, please click here.

Dallas, Texas

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Dallas is the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation (Central Dallas CDC), a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation with Community Housing Development Organization status from the City of Dallas that seeks to increase the supply of affordable housing as part of the diverse, economically-mixed neighborhoods of inner city Dallas.

Central Dallas Community Development Corporation (Central Dallas CDC) plans to transform the historic Cabana Motor Hotel in Dallas into a 200-unit affordable housing facility in order to address the housing needs of homeless families and individuals in Central Dallas. This development is a collaborative effort among Central Dallas CDC, Central Dallas Ministries, a local architectural firm and a community design firm. Dallas County is currently using the property as the Decker Jail overflow facility, but the County will vacate the property next summer.

The collaborative development project is based on the Housing First methodology, which seeks to break families of the cycle of homelessness. What differentiates the Housing First approach from traditional emergency shelter or transitional housing approaches is that it is housing-based and has a primary focus of helping individuals and families quickly gain access to permanent affordable housing. The Housing First approach also seeks to sustain and stabilize families with the assistance of six to twelve months of individualized, home-based support services.

For more information on the Central Dallas Community Development Corporation, please click here.

Las Vegas, Nevada

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Las Vegas is Nevada HAND, a local non-profit organization that develops affordable housing in the metropolitan Las Vegas area.

Nevada HAND plans to rehabilitate the Sky View Pines Family Apartments into a new, energy-efficient, water-wise, affordable rental housing development for 150 families whose incomes are at or below 60 percent of the area's median income. These 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units will help individuals transition from crisis living to a stable community by integrating housing along with on-site education, employment, recreation facilities and social services for individuals and families in need. This project is part of a larger plan to transform a 20-acre former homeless corridor and tent city into a vibrant community with affordable rental housing and social services. The City of Las Vegas selected Nevada HAND to complete the final leg of this 10-year plan.

Las Vegas, one of the fastest growing cities in the U.S., has a critical lack of affordable rental housing – which became graver as a result of the foreclosure crisis.

For more information on Nevada HAND, please click here.

Long Island, New York

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Long Island, N.Y. is the Community Development Corporation of Long Island (CDCLI), a HUD certified housing agency.

The CDCLI plans to acquire and rehabilitate 35 REO properties in targeted low-income Suffolk County, N.Y. neighborhoods through the Reclaim Long Island Homes Program. The program was developed to respond to the foreclosure crisis, which has impacted thousands of families in Suffolk County, and the lack of affordable housing for low-income families.

Specifically, CDCLI will use the PIP grant to hire a full-time coordinator to manage this program and oversee the acquisition and rehabilitation of properties brought into the program. The coordinator also will ensure that the newly rehabilitated homes meet all health and safety codes before they are either retained for rental or offered for purchase to first-time buyers. CDCLI plans to retain and rent 20 houses and acquire, renovate and sell an additional fifteen properties to moderate-income families. CDCLI will provide all buyers with ongoing counseling assistance.

For the past ten years, CDCLI has acquired and substantially renovated open-market homes on a scattered site basis. The organization then rents these homes, which it owns, to formerly homeless families. Recently, CDCLI has begun to acquire properties through the Suffolk County tax foreclosure process and sell these homes, which are renovated, if necessary, to first-time homebuyers. These buyers often rent for a period of months before they are certified as fully prepared to be owners. To support these housing development efforts, CDCLI established a NeighborWorks Homeownership Center to provide comprehensive programs and services for those wishing to pursue first-time homeownership. The center offers access to subsidy and education programs and works with prospective buyers to prepare detailed goals to assist them in maintaining long-term financial stability.

For more information on the Community Development Corporation of Long Island, please click here.

Los Angeles, California

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Los Angeles is Little Tokyo Service Center Community Development Corporation (LTSC), a comprehensive social service and community development agency.

The LTSC, in support of its Nikkei Center project, plans to develop a five-acre parcel of land in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Nikkei Center will provide mixed-income housing units for more than approximately 1,000 people. This will include 100 units for low-income individuals. The project also will provide nearly 5,000 jobs and create new office space for more than 500 workers. The building will meet energy efficiency goals through environmentally progressive designs and operating policies using LEED standards. Additionally, the project will include the development of the Los Angeles-Nagoya Friendship Park.

With a median household income of $14,503 and a poverty rate of 38 percent, Little Tokyo suffers from a lack of affordable housing. In and around the Little Tokyo community, nearly 2,300 housing units have been completed, are currently under construction, or are in the planning stages. Of these units, only three percent – or 72 units – have been set aside for low- to moderate-income households.

For more information on the Little Tokyo Service Center Community Development Corporation, please click here.

Miami, Florida

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipients in greater Miami metro area are Carrfour Supportive Housing, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1993 by the Homeless Committee of the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce, and the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation (MBCDC), a non-profit community development and housing agency serving Miami Beach since 1981.

Carrfour Supportive Housing is underwriting the Verde Gardens Apartments, a complex of 145 units of new, affordable housing for formerly homeless families, an organic produce nursery and a farmers market retail site on the former Homestead Airforce Base, which closed as a result of Hurricane Andrew. As the homeless population in Miami-Dade County continues to grow and affordable housing for this population remains limited, there is a critical need for this project.

The affordable housing units will be built using a green modular wall system and green building techniques. Carrfour will seek LEED certification for the apartments. Produce from the nursery will be sold to local restaurants and the Community Partnership for the Homeless. The Miami Dade County's Homeless Trust, which owns the land, selected Carrfour to develop and operate the complex.

Carrfour successfully piloted the concept of combining organic gardening and supportive housing last year when it initiated a community gardening program for 65 formerly homeless, disabled adults residing at one of its supportive housing developments. The community development organization found that the gardening project not only provided fresh vegetables and fruits to the residents and taught them better eating habits, but also served as an engaging therapeutic activity.

Since its founding in 1994, Carrfour has assembled more than $70 million in funding commitments from a wide variety of sources and has used those commitments to develop and operate 962 units of supportive housing. Currently, Carrfour operates ten projects serving approximately 1,059 homeless adults and children.

The MBCDC plans to rehabilitate three multi-unit properties in Miami Beach's CANDO Arts Neighborhood in order to create new, affordable rental housing. The three properties are the Allen Apartment Hotel, which is vacant and boarded up; the Barclay Hotel, which is fully occupied primarily with low-income seniors but needs substantial rehabilitation; and London House, which is nearly 80 percent occupied with low-income seniors and single workers. The renovations will provide 140 units of affordable rental housing and workforce housing for low- and moderate-income seniors, artists and other workers.

There is significant need and market demand for affordable housing for the elderly in the area who live on fixed incomes and account for 13 percent of the population. Additionally, nearly 20 percent of the population in Miami Beach lives below the poverty level and the cost of renting an apartment is generally more than double the amount that a low-income family can afford. There are more than 3,700 substandard housing units in the Miami Beach area and in the past five years, approximately 5,000 units of affordable rentals have been lost to condominium conversions.

For more information on Carrfour Supportive Housing, please click here.

For more information on the Miami Beach Community Development Corporation, please click here.

Orange, New Jersey

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Orange and West Orange, N.J is HANDS, a non-profit organization committed to the revitalization of neighborhoods in Orange and West Orange, N.J.

HANDS is leading the remediation and transformation of the Harvard Printing site, a contaminated former industrial site on the border of Orange and West Orange, N.J. This development will result in the creation of 220 units of mixed-income housing, a public pedestrian greenway park and 100 workspaces for local artists. The Harvard Printing site is near public transportation at the Highland Avenue commuter rail station and the project is part of the Central Valley Redevelopment Plan, a larger revitalization initiative in the area.

For more information on HANDS, please click here.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Philadelphia is Asociación de Puertorriqueños en Marcha (ARM), a health, human services and community development organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in the Greater Philadelphia area.

ARM is engaged in Philadelphia's first Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) project around the Temple University's Regional Rail Station, the fourth busiest rail station in the regional rail system with more than 2,000 daily passengers. This project expects to develop 120 new units of green, affordable housing and 20,000 square feet of green commercial space in North Philadelphia. Additionally, as the first TOD project in the City of Philadelphia, this initiative will set the standard for TOD projects in the area. North Philadelphia has an unemployment rate of 26 percent, a median household income of $12,333 and a poverty rate of 62 percent.

For more information on Asociación de Puertorriqueños en Marcha, please click here.

Sioux Falls, South Dakota

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Sioux Falls, S.D. is the Sioux Falls Planning Office, which is part of the City of Sioux Falls, S.D.

The Sioux Falls Planning Office plans to develop a new, mixed-use building in the Pettigrew Heights section, a designated redevelopment zone. The area has a median income of $23,300, a poverty rate of 21 percent and an unemployment rate of 6.3 percent.

The Sioux Falls Planning Office's project in Pettigrew Heights involves the acquisition of half a city block to restore 11 sub-standard multi-unit properties, which have fallen into disrepair. Plans call for the 11 units to be joined and redeveloped into a green, mixed-use, multi-story structure containing 57 units of affordable housing for the elderly as well as retail space. Among the retail services planned are a pharmacy, a small grocery and a medical office. The complex will seek LEED certification.

For more information on the Sioux Falls Planning Office, please click here.

Stamford, Connecticut

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient in Stamford, Conn. is New Neighborhoods Inc. (NNI), a non-profit housing developer.

NNI has developed a Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan for Stamford's West Side Neighborhood to acquire and rehabilitate several sites and construct mixed-use complexes along three heavily traveled West Side commercial corridors. The organization will use the funds to hire a staff person dedicated to this project who will manage site control, zoning analysis, environmental, architectural, appraisal and the financials.

The average family income in Stamford's West Side is $47,000 whereas the median income in the city of Stamford is $77,400. Seventy-one percent of West Side residents are renters, and 29 percent of these renters are cost-burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent. Additionally, 10 percent of families in the West Side live below the poverty line and the area's unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent. The population of the West Side is expected to grow, so there will be an increased need for affordable housing.

For more information on New Neighborhoods, Inc., please click here.

Sussex County, Delaware

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. The grant recipient is the Milford Housing Development Corporation (MHDC), a private, non-profit corporation that was organized in 1977 to provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing for very low- to moderate-income households in Kent and Sussex Counties, Del. The MHDC is working in partnership with the Diamond State Community Land Trust, a private, non-profit corporation that was organized in 2006 to promote permanent affordability through shared equity arrangements. The MHDC's New Horizons Community Project will enable the affordability of quality manufactured homes on permanent foundations developed under a Community Land Trust model. The development will enable 50 low-income, first-time homebuyers to purchase Energy-Star efficient, three- to four- bedroom homes.

The need for affordable housing in Sussex County is significant. Of the 25,000 households in the county, 38 percent spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing. The median home price in the county is $260,000 and a family earning 80 percent of the area's median income ($44,500) can only afford a house costing $122,000 or less.

For more information on the Milford Housing Development Corporation, please click here.