WASHINGTON, July 29, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new
development breaking ground today in the nation's capital is a
model for integrating housing, health care, jobs and neighborhood
retail to generate economic energy in distressed communities and
bring much-needed services to low-income people.
So Others Might Eat (SOME), a faith-based community organization
focused on poverty, is building the $90
million Conway Center in Washington, D.C.'s Benning Heights
neighborhood. When completed, the development will include 202
affordable apartments, a state-of-the-art health center for 15,000
patients per year; a job-training center operated by SOME; as well
as shops, offices and green space. The site is located across from
the Benning Road metro station, making it easy for residents to get
to jobs and services and for patients from across the city to get
to the health center.
This is the first development in the District to combine
affordable housing, job training, and health care, all under one
roof. To launch it, SOME drew on its nearly five decades of
experience to assemble a complex mix of public and private funding,
including nearly $34 million from the
Healthy Futures Fund (HFF). HFF is a partnership between The Kresge
Foundation, Morgan Stanley and the Local Initiatives Support
Corporation (LISC). It was created to finance projects that connect
affordable housing to quality health care so that disadvantaged
residents can improve their quality of life.
"The Conway Center is in many ways a blueprint for the kind of
inventive economic development that meets a range of local needs,"
said Emily Chen, LISC program
director for HFF. "The effort recognizes how much 'place'
matters, with housing and health services in close proximity to
each other and to public transit so residents can take advantage of
them. And, it gathers partners that have a shared focus—to
improve health outcomes for people struggling with the deep
challenges of poverty."
HFF has to date committed $100
million to help develop housing and health centers across
the country, as well as fund services that connect the two for
low-income people. It combines grants, loans and equity
investments, giving fund partners the chance to make social
investments with a broad reach.
"Taking a holistic approach when addressing community needs is
essential to creating vibrant neighborhoods," added Audrey Choi, CEO of the Morgan Stanley Institute
for Sustainable Investing and Head of Global Sustainable Finance.
"By combining affordable housing and healthcare, The Conway Center
is a prime example of the type of forward-thinking community
development that Morgan Stanley seeks to catalyze," she said.
More specifically, HFF leveraged Low Income Housing Tax Credits
so it could invest $20.4 million in
the residential piece of The Conway Center. It tapped another
$13.5 million in New Markets Tax
Credits for the health center, which will be operated by Unity
Health Care. Additional grant dollars are expected to help SOME do
programming and local outreach around health.
"We know health outcomes for low-income residents improve as
access to care improves," said Kimberlee
Cornett, who directs The Kresge Foundation's social
investment practice. "The Conway Center is exemplary of the kind of
collaborative development we wanted to seed through the Healthy
Futures Fund, one that will bring both quality affordable housing
and excellent health care in one setting to an underserved
population.."
The Conway Center is HFF's largest single investment to date and
the first time the fund has used both its housing capital and its
health center capital in the same project.
"Local support for this project is critical given how many
people it will help across the city," said Oramenta Newsome, LISC
program vice president who oversees the DC LISC program. "But it is
also so important for us to bring significant national resources to
projects that can offer life-changing benefits for people who
struggle. The Healthy Futures Fund is another important way for
LISC to do that here in D.C.," she said.
About Morgan Stanley
Morgan Stanley is a leading
global financial services firm providing investment banking,
securities, wealth management and investment management
services. With offices in more than 43 countries, the Firm's
employees serve clients worldwide including corporations,
governments, institutions and individuals. For further
information about Morgan Stanley, please visit
www.morganstanley.com.
About The Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation is a
$3.5 billion private, national
foundation that works to expand opportunities in America's cities
through grantmaking and investing in arts and culture, education,
environment, health, human services, community development in
Detroit. In 2014, the Board of
Trustees approved 408 awards totaling $242.5
million. That included a $100
million award to the Foundation for Detroit's Future, a fund created to soften the
impact of the city's bankruptcy on pensioners and safeguard
cultural assets at the Detroit Institute of Arts. A total of
$138.1 million was paid out to
grantees over the course of the year. In addition, our Social
Investment Practice made commitments totaling $20.4 million in 2014. For more, visit
www.Kresge.org.
About LISC
LISC combines corporate, government and
philanthropic resources to help nonprofit community development
corporations revitalize distressed neighborhoods. Since 1980, LISC
has invested $14.7 billion to build
or rehab 330,000 affordable homes and apartments and develop 53
million square feet of retail, community and educational space,
including $189 million in work
focused on Washington, D.C.
LISC manages the Healthy Futures Fund, with support from its
affiliates, National Equity Fund and New Markets Support
Company. For more, visit www.lisc.org.
Contacts:
Emily Chen,
director/Healthy Futures Fund
212-455-9882 or echen@lisc.org
Oramenta Newsome, vice president/DC LISC
202-739-9267 or onewsome@lisc.org
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SOURCE LISC