U.S. Bank, Enterprise Community Partners announce innovative racial equity bond
The
This is the first CDFI-issued racial equity bond. The designation of this social bond as a racial equity bond provides for targeted investments in underserved communities of color. CDFIs have rigorous standards about eligibility and reporting when it comes to how funds are used, and this bond will require additional project-level vendor requirements and thorough impact reporting data for investors. The introduction of this new social bond framework into the capital markets for mission-driven institutions like CDFIs offers companies the opportunity to directly invest in projects that support racial equity in underinvested communities of color.
“It is time to take decisive action to ensure the businesses that create affordable homes are more representative of the people who live in them,” said
To achieve its impact goals, Enterprise will use the bond proceeds to finance loan capital to people of color-led community-based nonprofit organizations and mission-aligned for-profit developers. These loans are primarily for multi-family housing and community facilities. The loans themselves will vary in both type and stage of project development, including acquisition, construction, mini-perm, permanent and predevelopment.
“We see tremendous opportunity for positive social impact with racial equity bonds, especially with this type of innovative framework. This structure allows an investor to see, down to project-level details, how their investment is advancing racial equity,” said
“U.S. Bank is a strong supporter of CDFIs, which play an incredibly important role in financing entrepreneurs and small businesses that traditionally have been left out or underserved because of systemic inequities,” said
About
Enterprise is a national nonprofit on a mission to make home and community places of pride, power and belonging for all. To make that possible, we operate the only organization designed to address America's affordable housing crisis from every angle: we develop and deploy programs and support community organizations on the ground; we advocate for policy on a nonpartisan basis at every level of government; we invest capital to build and preserve rental homes people can afford; and we own, operate and provide resident services for affordable communities. All so that people not only make rent, they build futures. With this end-to-end approach, 40 years of experience and thousands of local partners, Enterprise has built and preserved 793,000 homes, invested
About
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todd.deutsch@usbank.com | 612-303-4148
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