Capital Impact Partners builds strong, vibrant communities for underserved people. A nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution, they deliver strategic financing, incubate new social ventures, and support capacity building to help ensure that low-to-moderate-income individuals have access to quality health care and education, healthy foods, affordable housing, and the opportunity to age independently.
CIP has deployed over $2.5B to serve nearly 5 million people and create more than 33,000 jobs nationwide in sectors critical to vibrant communities. Capital Impact Partners is a leading nonprofit lender to food projects across the country. Their $150 million in financing has led to the development of new stores, expansion of existing stores, and innovations such as mobile markets and food hubs that scale distribution efforts. This effort creates healthier communities while spurring economic growth and job creation.
CIP was the original fund administrator for the California FreshWorks Fund from 2011 to 2016. (See on a later page for Northern California Community Loan Fund, current administrator). During this time, CIP deployed $55 million in New Markets Tax Credits and debt capital to 15 fresh food retail sites and intermediary organizations, developing 435,000 square feet of retail space and increasing access to fresh food for over 800,000 people across the state. In addition, CIP deployed $2.1 million to 53 organizations to support innovative community projects statewide.
- LA PREP: Capital Impact Partners joined other investors to provide $17.5 million in NMTC financing through the California FreshWorks Fund for the acquisition and renovation of a 56,000 square foot industrial building in Los Angeles. The new facility is the home of two highly innovative social enterprises, L.A. Prep and L.A. Kitchen. L.A. Prep is a business incubator and production space for wholesale food producers. It facilitates the growth of small food businesses by providing 49 state-of-the-art kitchens that food entrepreneurs can rent as they start and expand their businesses. It also provides a variety of support services—including expert guidance on marketing and distribution, and opportunities to showcase their products to local buyers—to help the entrepreneurs succeed. L.A. Kitchen is a nonprofit organization that collects surplus food and prepares and distributes it to homeless shelters, transitional homes, and other nonprofits. The food is prepared by the participants—among them, at-risk foster youth and adults transitioning out of incarceration—in a 15-week job training program.
- FEED THE HUNGER FOUNDATION: Capital Impact Partners lends to experienced intermediaries that make high-impact loans of their own. Feed the Hunger Foundation (FTHF) is one of those intermediary lenders. FTHF was founded in 2008 to use microfinance to help eliminate poverty and hunger. Through the California FreshWorks Fund, Capital Impact Partners provided $100,000 in financing to support FTHF's California Food For Thought Program, which offers microloans to individuals and organizations that increase access to healthy foods in the state's Central Valley and Central Coast. Through the California Food for Thought Program Javier Zamora was able to access funding to launch JSM Organics, a successful organic berry and vegetable farm. Other successful borrowers included Rosa Hernandez Bautista and Silvia Rojas, the creators of Colectivo Sabor a Mi Terra, a restaurant in Madera offering authentic Oaxacan cuisine.
- COMMUNITY SERVICES UNLIMITED: Community Services Unlimited (CSU) was founded around food insecurity and access issues in 1977, and has been bringing weekly pop-up produce stands to South Los Angeles for the past few years. With two capacity building grants from The FreshWorks Fund totaling $40,000, CSU has purchased bicycles for produce delivery, developed a marketing and branding initiative, and started preparing renovations to the Paul Robeson Community Center, which will be its home base. This funding helped the CSU grow from serving 15 families in 2007 to serving more than 9,000 families in 2015. Once the renovations to the Robeson Center are finished, CSU will support about 15 new jobs and serve as a business incubator and a community wellness space.
- KITCHENS FOR GOOD: Founded in San Diego, Kitchens for Good (KFG) takes useable but imperfect or near-expiration food and turns it into healthy and affordable frozen meals and shelf stable items. The organization also runs programs that provide meals to seniors and culinary training and life skills to former foster care youth and formerly incarcerated young adults. While Kitchens for Good had an operations site when it approached FreshWorks, it did not have all the equipment needed for its commercial kitchen to be operational. Through a $50,000 FreshWorks Fund grant, KFG was able to purchase equipment and improve its cold storage capacity. Our investment in KFG paved the way for it to start the revenue generating programs that support the rest of its work, while also helping to expand the number of people it serves through its senior meal deliver programs. The FreshWorks grant also helped KFG get additional funding.
HFFI Projects and Impacts
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Northgate Gonzalez Market, San Diego, $8.5MM total financing
- 42,625 sq. ft. food retail space created/preserved
- 119,000 residents served
- 122 jobs created
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Northgate Gonzalez Market, Inglewood, $7.6MM total financing
- 30,000 sq. ft. food retail space created/preserved
- 105,000 residents served
- 110 jobs created
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El Rancho Marketplace, Pismo Beach, $1.8MM total financing
- 39,498 sq. ft. food retail space created/preserved
- 50,052 residents served
- 140 jobs created
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Numero Uno Markets, South Los Angeles, $12MM total financing
- Upgrades and expansion for an 8 store chain
- Stopped tobacco sales, installed junk food-free checkout aisle, and holds health and wellness fairs
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Palomino Market, Huntington Park. $651,840 total financing
- 6,000 sq. ft. food retail space created/preserved
- 57,000 residents served
- 8-10 jobs created
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Urban Radish, Los Angeles. $4,000 grant, $620,000 loan commitment
- 8,200 sq. ft. food retail space created/preserved
- 15,000 residents served
- 25 jobs created
Source of money: HFFI CDFI-Financial Assistance Program; Fiscal Year(s): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016
Fiscal Year 2011, $3MM, Fiscal Year 2012, $1MM, Fiscal Year 2013, $3MM, Fiscal Year 2014 $2MM, Fiscal Year 2016, $2.4MM