Citi Announces $2 Million in Community Development Grants to Help Revitalize Urban Areas

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Citi Foundation today announced 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 Citi Foundation is offering the grants through the Citi Foundation Partners in Progress (PIP) Grant Program, an initiative started in 1997 aimed at helping leading community organizations implement physical development or revitalization of underserved areas. This year, the Citi Foundation expanded PIP from New York-based and regionally-based grants to a national program.

Through PIP, the Citi Foundation has awarded 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, more than half include environmental sustainability as a critical aspect of the initiative and one-third include transit-oriented developments.

Gina Doynow, National Director of North America Community Relations for Citi, said, “Citi is strongly committed to supporting the work of community development organizations, which play an important role in the growth of underserved communities, particularly in this difficult economic environment. That is why the Citi Foundation expanded our PIP grant program nationally to 21 truly ground-breaking revitalization projects we believe will help stabilize and transform urban areas nationwide.”

The Citi Foundation is providing PIP grants to community organizations in: Arlington, Va.; Austin, Tex.; Baltimore; Boston; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Chicago; Dallas; Las Vegas; Long Island, N.Y.; Los Angeles; Miami Beach, Fla.; Miami; Orange, N.J.; Philadelphia; San Diego; Sioux Falls, S.D.; Stamford, Conn.; Sussex County, Del.; and Washington, D.C.

Twenty-one Innovative Place-based Community Development Initiatives

The Citi Foundation selected projects based on their innovation and impact on the community. Grant recipients include:

• Arlington, Va. – The Ethiopian Community Development Council is engaged in the renovation and modernization of a 50,000 square foot, multi-purpose office building which will house their 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.
• Austin – Foundation Communities plans to develop 150 units of affordable, mixed-income green housing near the Austin MetroRail, the city’s first commuter rail line which is slated to open later this year. In addition to the housing units, the plans also include a childcare center, a community space and a pedestrian-friendly retail space. Foundation Communities will use green building methods for the project.
• Baltimore – East Baltimore Development Inc. 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.
• Baltimore – The Reinvestment Fund is engaged in the Preston Place development which will result in 122 Energy Star-certified, affordable homes for sale to low- and moderate-income families in the Oliver neighborhood of East Baltimore.
• Brooklyn, N.Y. – Fifth Avenue Committee, the only non-profit member of the Gowanus Green Partnership, plans to restore and revitalize Public Place, a brownfield site along the Gowanus Canal, with 774 units of affordable housing, community and retail facilities, parking spaces and a public park. Once completed, the area will be a LEED-certified neighborhood, and is expected to become a national model for urban community development.
• Chicago – Lawndale Christian Development Corporation (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 historic district, in which Dr. King lived during his Chicago campaign in 1966.
• Dallas – Central Dallas Community Development Corporation plans to transform the historic Cabana Motor Hotel in Dallas into a 200-unit affordable housing facility. Dallas County is currently using the property as the Decker Jail overflow facility.
• Dorchester, Mass. (Greater Boston) – Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation, a member of the Fairmount/Indigo Line CDC Collaborative, plans to bring transit equity to the line and create urban villages in the area. 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.
• Las Vegas – 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 median income.
• Los Angeles – Little Tokyo Service Center Community Development Corporation, in support of its Nikkei Center, plans to develop a five-acre parcel of land in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles. The green Nikkei Center will provide mixed-income housing units for more than 1,000 people.
• Suffolk County, N.Y. (Long Island) – The Community Development Corporation of Long Island plans to acquire and rehabilitate 35 REO properties in targeted low-income Suffolk County, N.Y. neighborhoods through its Reclaim Long Island Homes Program. The organization will use the PIP grant funds to hire a full-time coordinator to manage this program.
• Miami – Carrfour Supportive Housing is underwriting the Verde Gardens Apartments, a complex of 145 units of new LEED-certified, 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.
• Miami Beach – The Miami Beach Community Development Corporation plans to rehabilitate three multi-unit properties in Miami Beach’s CANDO Arts Neighborhood in order to create 140 new affordable rental housing units for low- and moderate-income seniors, artists and other workers.
• Orange, N.J. and West Orange, N.J. – Housing and Neighborhood Development Services (HANDS) is leading the remediation and transformation of the Harvard Printing site, a brownfield 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.
• Philadelphia – Asociación Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM) is engaged in Philadelphia’s first Transit-Oriented Development project around the Temple University 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.
• San Diego – The San Diego Capital Collaborative’s 10th and B Development Project, a mixed-use, mixed-income development, is located next to the YWCA in Downtown San Diego. The development will provide low- to moderate-income families with access to affordable housing, education, jobs, public transportation, social services, and community recreation facilities.
• Sioux Falls, S.D. – The City of Sioux Falls Planning Office is planning to develop a mixed-use, multi-story structure containing 57 units of affordable housing for the elderly, as well as space on the ground floor for retail services in the Pettigrew Heights neighborhood of Sioux Falls, a designated redevelopment zone.
• Somerville, Mass. (Greater Boston) – Somerville Community Corporation is leading a comprehensive community planning collaborative around the Green Line Extension Project in Boston. The initiative will assist 2,000 primarily low- to moderate-income individuals who reside along the Green Line corridor.
• Stamford, Conn. – New Neighborhoods Inc. has developed a Comprehensive Neighborhood Plan for Stamford’s west side to construct a number of mixed-use buildings that will offer greater affordable housing and economic opportunities to residents of this underserved community.
• Sussex County, Del. – Milford Housing Development Corporation (MHDC)’s New Horizons Community Project will ensure the permanent affordability of quality manufactured homes on permanent foundations developed under a Community Land Trust model. This development will enable 50 low-income, first-time homebuyers to purchase Energy-Star efficient, three- to four- bedroom homes.
• Washington, D.C. – MANNA Community Development Corporation plans to build 20 new affordable condominiums for low- to moderate-income families in the Ivy City neighborhood of Washington, D.C. This project is part of the “Home Again Initiative” a plan led by the District’s Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

Additional information about Citi Foundation’s PIP Grant Program can be found at http://www.citifoundation.com/citi/foundation/pip_gp.htm

About Citi

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has some 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 100 countries, providing consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, and wealth management. Citi's major brand names include Citibank, CitiFinancial, Primerica, Smith Barney, Banamex, and Nikko. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com or www.citi.com.

About Citi Foundation

The Citi Foundation is committed to enhancing economic opportunities for underserved individuals and families in the communities where we work throughout the world. Globally, the Citi Foundation is focusing its giving on Microfinance and Microentrepreneurship, which helps individuals become economically self-sufficient; Small and Growing Businesses, leading to economic expansion and job creation; Education, which prepares young people for personal and professional success; Financial Education, which helps individuals make informed financial decisions; and the Environment with a focus on sustainable enterprises that generate jobs and stimulate economic growth while preserving the environment. In the U.S. and Canada, the Citi Foundation supports Community Development programs that help build and revitalize neighborhoods and Education programs that prepare students for college and careers. Additional information can be found at http://www.citigroupfoundation.com/.

Note to editors: more detailed descriptions of the 21 place-based community development projects are available upon request.