Essential Workers Housing Fund Wins National Award

National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies honors Essential Workers Housing Fund with Presitigous Award of Single-Family Excellence

From left: Patty Gonzalez, Director of Housing Programs, CIC; Michael Slania, Attorney, The Industrial Development Authority of the County of Pima; Dre Thompson, CEO Tucson Industrial Development Authority

Community Investment Corporation (CIC) is thrilled that the Essential Workers Housing Fund, in collaboration with the Tucson Industrial Development Authority, has been honored with the prestigious Award of Single-Family Excellence by the National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies (NALHFA).

This recognition not only celebrates the remarkable impact the EWHF has had in providing affordable housing solutions for essential workers but also acknowledges the vital partnership with the Pima County Industrial Development Authority and Tucson Industrial Development Authority.

The Single-Family Excellence award recognizes innovative and creative achievement in single-family projects and programs, focused on low-income households. The Essential Workers Housing Fund was established with the sole purpose of addressing the critical housing needs of individuals whose work is critical for day-to-day life, but are often undervalued and underpaid. The Essential Workers Housing Fund empowered them with affordable homeownership opportunities, and helping them build a foundation for generational wealth.

Director of Housing Programs, Patty Gonzalez, joined Michael Slania and Dre Thompson in Tampa, Florida in May to accept this award. 

This partnership has been instrumental in leveraging resources, expertise, and financing opportunities to make the most impact to our community. Working together, we successfully distributed funds tailored to the needs of essential workers, making the dream of homeownership a reality for our deserving and hard-working neighbors.

MySchoolsTucson Featured in Local News

MySchoolsTucson Has Launched and Needs Your Feedback!

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) – Finding the perfect school for your little one just got a lot easier thanks to a local nonprofit.

Tucson-based Community Investment Corporation launched a new website called, MySchoolsTucson.org, to provide resources and unbiased information to Pima County families about local schools.

The development of the website is CIC’s response to a 2022 survey it conducted of more than 1,100 K-12 Arizona parents. The survey showed that parents feel overwhelmed when choosing a school and don’t have a place where they can go to get unbiased information.

“Educational landscape in Arizona is much different than it was 10 to 20 years ago,” said Scott Evans, Director of Family and School Engagement.

Families with lower incomes have less access to school information. The way they interact with schools and their administrations is much different than wealthier parents of K-12 students.

The sheer number of schools alone in Pima County can be overwhelming. There are more than 350 schools in the county alone.

“A lot more options but with the more options comes a more difficult time filtering through the information, and really understanding what would be a great fit for their children,” said Evans.

The program aims to ensure that all Tucson families have the tools and support they need to engage and make informed decisions about their child’s education.

“Performance data from the state of Arizona will be listed there. Extracurriculars academic offerings will be there, special program supports, after school programs, whether there’s preschool on site,” said Evans.

Through surveys and support groups, the nonprofit learned parents needed an unbiased source they could trust.

“The schools do a great job at promoting their schools but things were overwhelming, there was too much information out there and it was taking a lot of time. Very much time taxed,” said Evans. “We wanted to solve that problem and simplify the process and come up with a place where parents can find everything they’re looking for in one place. Sort of a one-stop shop for families.”

As the population in Pima County grows, leaders at CIC believe this will benefit families who have another way to learn about district schools. Through their website, you can find information on district public schools, public charter schools, and private schools.

MySchoolsTucson Powered by CIC. Explore. Discover. Thrive. All school types for all Tucson families. All in one place.

“With so many choices and so many options, it becomes a real challenge for people who are new here. Just moved into the state, maybe they work at the base, refugee families, immigrant families that are really brand new to the educational landscape,” said Evans. “Even brand new young families entering kindergarten for the first time. It’s a really difficult thing to do to filter through, so this site will certainly help those families understand both the educational landscape, and see what schools may be available to them. To see what opportunities lie in the walls of those schools, how the system works, deadlines, enrollment timelines, and support navigating that system.”

For the next 90 days, you can help CIC by providing feedback on their site. There you can find surveys regarding the content provided and how easy it was for you to find information.

There’s also a place where you can make requests for more information that was not provided.

This article was originally published on KOLD.com

CIC Launches MySchoolsTucson.org

MySchoolsTucson Powered by CIC. Explore. Discover. Thrive. All school types for all Tucson families. All in one place.

Local Nonprofit launches School Locator and Educational Resource MySchoolsTucson.org. Needs feedback from the community.

Community Investment Corporation developed and launched an online platform to provide parents with a valuable free digital research tool and ‘one-stop-shop’ with information on every school in Pima County.

MySchoolsTucson Powered by CIC. Explore. Discover. Thrive. All school types for all Tucson families. All in one place.

April 5, 2023 (Tucson, Arizona) – Tucson families who are exploring the K-12 educational landscape are getting some help from a local nonprofit. Tucson-based Community Investment Corporation (CIC) has launched MySchoolsTucson.org, a family-focused online school locator that includes educational resources focused on Tucson and Pima County. This mobile-friendly website offers families a simple, understandable opportunity to find unbiased information about ALL Tucson and Pima County schools. The approach of MySchoolsTucson.org is to be a centralized “online one-stop-shop” for families seeking to explore their children’s schools and the schools in the area. The platform is accessible and free of charge to all users.

The development of MySchoolsTucson.org and its library of resources is CIC’s response to a 2022 survey it conducted of over 1,100 K-12 Arizona parents. The survey showed that parents’ ability to access information about schools and engage with schools is directly correlated to their income. Families with lower incomes have less access to school information and the way they interact with schools and their administrations is much different than wealthier parents of K-12 students.

“This is another area of our economy where lower income households are at a disadvantage, often because these parents have less time to research and engage with schools than wealthier households,” said CIC’s Executive Director, Danny Knee. “Considering education has such a profound effect on lifelong opportunities, we think it is essential to make accessing information on the schools children attend as easy as possible for parents.”

According to Knee, educational research shows that parent engagement is directly linked to better school attendance and high school graduation as well as higher grades and classroom test scores. The American Psychological Association also links engagement to better health outcomes for children.

“Considering that many parents find researching and exploring schools overwhelming,” said Scott Evans, CIC’s Director of Family and School Engagement, “we are focused on making MySchoolsTucson.org, as simple and easy to use as possible.” Before joining CIC’s Family and School Engagement team, Evans spent more than a decade as the Director of Counseling at Salpointe Catholic High School.

CIC, through their Family and School Engagement program aims to ensure that all Tucson families have the tools and support they need to engage and make informed decisions about their child’s education. This includes information on the different curricular and extra-curricular programs available at schools. It also includes best practices regarding how to engage with school administrators and teachers productively to ensure their children get the most out of their school experiences.

MySchoolsTucson.org was developed through research and collaboration with parents in Pima County. Over the past two years, CIC has engaged focus groups and formulated a parent survey to comprehend how parents maneuver in the educational environment. Through that process, Tucson parents expressed their struggle in gathering essential details about nearby schools, often resorting to confusing and time consuming online searches to gather information related to their school preferences. An overwhelming percentage of participants enthusiastically welcomed a user-friendly resource that streamlines access to information about educational options and tips on how to increase their engagement in their children’s education.

Just like any evolving app or software, MySchoolsTucson.org will continue to flourish by earnestly listening to valuable feedback from its users. According to the CIC team, this will help them to make necessary improvements,  introduce new features, and expand outreach through increased community event participation and collaborations with community-based organizations. Community Investment Corporation is committed to building resources that meet the needs of Tucson families and greatly appreciates all responses. They are requesting additional feedback from families through this survey.

For more information about MySchoolsTucson.org, please visit: https://www.myschoolstucson.org/ or visit the school locator at https://explore.myschoolstucson.org/.

CIC Launches STAC

Tucson Small Business to Have Access to $500,000 in Revenue-Based Financing Through Innovative Nonprofit Partnership

Community Investment Corporation partners with Startup Tucson, Common Future / Community Credit Lab to bring $250,000 in investments to STAC Initiative to support small businesses in Tucson.

 January 30, 2023 (Tucson, Arizona) – Local small businesses and business owners that are unable to access traditional commercial loans are getting some help from two local nonprofit organizations. Tucson-based Community Investment Corporation (CIC) and Startup Tucson, are partnering with a national leader in innovative community-based economic development work, Common Future, and their in-house investment entity, Community Credit Lab, to launch a new business financing initiative, Success Through Alternative Capital (STAC), which aims to help businesses without adequate collateral or assets to qualify from traditional loans.

Common Future is investing $250,000 in the pilot program which CIC is matching with $250,000 of its own funds. Startup Tucson, for its part of the partnership, is providing business and entrepreneurial education to support local business owners who access STAC funding. Eric Horvath, Director of Capital Strategies for Common Future explained his organization’s reason for investing in Tucson. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the trust and belief that we have in CIC and Startup Tucson,” he said. “What really stood out was the dogged determination to innovate and do something different from both organizations and to maximize how much community impact we can have.”

STAC is designed as revenue-based financing (RBF) allowing small businesses to pledge future revenues for an advance of financial capital. Payments can vary depending on how well a business does and its gross revenues after receiving funding. Businesses have higher payments when they are generating more revenues and lower payments when they are generating less revenues, an arrangement that can be especially useful for seasonal businesses.

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The revenue-based approach is being facilitated by CIC’s technology partner, Ned, which will help the lender build capacity and make loan decisions in days rather than weeks. Ned’s end-to-end revenue-based financing platform will enable CIC to streamline applications, qualification and disbursement activities, and then automate revenue-based repayments on the backend.

“Ned has been a fantastic partner for us,” said Danny Knee, Community Investment Corporation’s Executive Director. “Their platform provides efficiencies that allow us to spend our time helping businesses rather than evaluating them.”

STAC is expected to fund 25 local businesses over the next year that the program partners say will be used to purchase essential equipment, purchase inventory, and to meet the cash flow demands of running a business.

“Our economy works well for people with existing wealth,” said Knee, “But the over-reliance on asset-based lending without complementary alternatives makes it nearly impossible for many small businesses, and especially those run by entrepreneurs of color, to get the financial capital they need to grow and succeed.”

Asset-based underwriting is the practice of securing loans with the pledge of turning over a company or personal assets to a lender if a business owner is unable to repay a loan. Entrepreneurs of color have a harder time accessing traditional capital in the U.S. than their white counterparts due to persistent wealth gaps and owning fewer personal and business assets. “We are trying to find ways to make our economy more inclusive,” said Liz Pocock, CEO of Startup Tucson. “We believe revenue-based financing is a way to support emerging entrepreneurs, including entrepreneurs of color.”

Interested businesses should contact Community Investment Corporation through their website:
https://cictucson.org/stac/.

2022 In Review

Celebrating our biggest year yet!

What a year it has been indeed!

While it feels nearly impossible to condense an entire year into one newsletter, we couldn’t close 2022 without taking a look back at the highlights from this year.

Join us in celebrating CIC’s biggest year to date, and we’re just getting started!

A national leader in eviction prevention

Over the course of 2 years, we were involved in a collaborative effort to administer federal funding to prevent evictions related to the economic impact of the pandemic throughout all of Pima County. As one of the most efficient programs in the nation, CIC and our partners facilitated disbursement of all of the City of Tucson’s ERA 1 and ERA 2 funds, as well as more than $22.5 million of additional reallocated funding from the state. In June of this year, we transitioned the Eviction Prevention Program to Pima County.

Since the start of the program we distributed $64+ million in rental and utility funding, assisted over 13,500 households, landlords and helped 30,000 residents remain in housing.

We owe much of the success of the program to our dedicated and willing community partners. Private, public and nonprofit sectors as well as private citizens came together selflessly to care for one another in the face of the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. Thank you: City of Tucson, Family Housing Resources, Sunnyside Foundation, Catholic Community Services, ISDA, Tucson Urban League, Inc., Primavera Foundation, International Rescue Committee, Interfaith Community Services, Chicanos Por La Causa, Valley Assistance Services and Compass Affordable Housing.

Read our IMPACT REPORT

Expanded the Mortgage Credit Certificate program statewide

For 30+ years, the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) program has been administered by CIC, and its sister organization, Family Housing Resources. The program reduces the cost of owning a home by allowing first-time homebuyers to claim up to $2,000 of their annual mortgage interest as a federal tax credit – each year and every year they live in their homes. This means that MCC’s can save homeowners up to $50,000+ over the life of their mortgages!

CIC has issued 7,000+ certificates to date, saving Arizona homeowners millions of dollars and this year, we expanded the program statewide! We look forward to empowering future homeowners throughout the state of Arizona. Check out this short video that explains how this important program works.

Learn more at: cictucson.org/mcc

The BIPOC Community Managed Loan Fund for Small Business Owners continues to grow!

Since launching the BIPOC Community Managed Loan Fund program, we’ve received 100+ applications, with requests for $700,000+ to help long underserved entrepreneurs of color in Southern Arizona grow their businesses and thrive. 

We were thrilled to share that in 2022 we fundraised over $100,000 to support this program. The revolving fund that started with just $2,700 in donations from CIC’s own staff  now sits at $380,000 and has helped 26 small businesses in Southern Arizona.

This funding is critical to our mission’s success and helped us get closer to our goal of building the fund to $1 million by 2025.

Check out this short video to learn more about this program.

CIC Tucson was named Social Impact Champion of the Year!

We were honored to be recognized by the selection committee of the Tucson Metro Chamber Copper Cactus Awards as this year’s TEP Social Impact Copper Cactus Champion. This is the second time in three years, CIC has earned this recognition and it is one of the only times that a nonprofit has been honored with a Copper Cactus Award three years in a row (we were named the regions Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion in 2021 for the launch of our BIPOC Community Managed Loan Fund).

While we don’t do this work for the awards, this was a special moment to stop and celebrate everyone who has contributed to making our programs worthy of recognition; most notably, the community’s best and most accomplished social service agencies who partnered with us for the Eviction Prevention program. Thank you to the City of Tucson, Family Housing Resources, Sunnyside Foundation, Catholic Community Services, ISDA, Tucson Urban League, Inc., Primavera Foundation, International Rescue Committee, Interfaith Community Services, Chicanos Por La Causa, Valley Assistance Services and Compass Affordable Housing. 

This program would not have been possible without the deep commitment of the highly skilled staff at the nonprofit organizations & government entities.

2022 brought an amazing year of success and impact for CIC, none of which would have been possible without the collaboration and support of trusted partners. We resolve to fill the coming year with opportunities and prosperity for all residents of Southern Arizona.

– Danny Knee and the CIC Team

CIC’s Homeownership Team Has Been Busy!

Have You Seen Us Lately?

Community Investment Corporation’s (CIC) Homeownership Team has been busy!

CIC is now the only organization facilitating the Mortgage Credit Certificate (MCC) program for the entire State of Arizona. We have been out and about to spread the word and help homebuyers in all counties purchase a home.

Did you miss the August MCC info session?

Watch the recording on YouTube!

Recent Wins!

It’s easy to get lost in the weeds of everyday life and forget how impactful our work is, so we want to share some positive news with you.

  • In mid-August, the max benefit for the Essential Worker grant DOUBLED to $5,000.
  • The number of households receiving the Essential Worker grant fund is increasing; 16 Essential Workers became homeowners in August.
  • We just added a new easy-to-use map to our website that makes finding target areas for the MCC program effortless. Take a look!
  • MSN.com featured CIC and the MCC program in A first-time homebuyer’s guide to Arizona.

Did you know homebuyers can use the MCC IN ADDITION TO other programs like Down Payment Assistance and the Essential Worker’s Fund? These programs not only bring homeownership within reach for some first-time homebuyers, they increase the buying power, which benefits the homeowner, the realtor, and the lender. It is truly a win-win-win situation!

Sign up for the last Mortgage Credit Certificate info session we’re hosting this year!

📅 Wednesday, November 9
⌚ 1-2 p.m.
💻 Zoom

Sign Up for Nov 9 Info Session

BIPOC Loan Fund Is Now OPEN!

We are excited to announce that the BIPOC Community Managed Loan Fund is now OPEN!   

This is a truly one-of-a-kind fund where BIPOC (black, indigenous people of color) business owners in Southern Arizona can apply for 0% interest loans, ranging from $500 to $10,000 and 5-year terms.    

This fund gives access to business owners who are often left behind by traditional economic resources, and our goal is to provide economic power and collective wealth for this underserved community.  

And, the most important part, all loan decisions are made by a committee of BIPOC business owners and community leaders! 

Applications opened Friday July 1, 2022 and we’ve made some changes to the loan this year. 

We’re excited to announce that this loan has shifted into a REVOLVING loan fun! This means the fund is open all year round! No need to rush and apply. We want to make sure that these resources are available when your business needs them.

We are holding an info session Wednesday, July 13 for you to learn more and get your questions answered. RSVP below:  

* recording will be sent to registrants 

Please share this valuable resource with your community, especially BIPOC business owners in Southern Arizona!

RSVP July 13 Info Session

This fund was founded by the community FOR our community.  Thank you to our amazing partners – blaxfriday, Startup Tucson, TEP, Cox, BBVA, Women’s Foundation for the State of Arizona, United Way of Southern Arizona, YWCA Southern Arizona, and Tucson Metro Chamber. 

We hope to see you there!

– CIC Team and the BIPOC Loan Fund Committee