The Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation, a Boston nonprofit that provides financial resources and technical expertise for community-based and other nonprofit organizations engaged in effective community development in Massachusetts, recently announced that it has been awarded $180,000 to establish a new planning grant program to help the state’s nonprofit community development sector.
The funding, from the Kuehn Charitable Foundation, will help nonprofit corporations in Massachusetts explore the feasibility at the earliest stages of project development.
Roger Herzog, executive director of Community Economic Development Assistance Corporation(CEDAC), said, “Throughout our history, CEDAC has provided early-stage financing to community development corporations and other community-based non-profit organizations to help them develop affordable housing and child care facilities.
“But we know that there many more organizations who want to improve their communities by producing or preserving affordable units or commercial space. The Kuehn Planning Grants will allow smaller non-profits to explore opportunities that they might feel are too financially risky otherwise. We’re looking forward to working with these organizations through these grants.”
The Kuehn Planning Grants of up to $15,000 each will be awarded to organizations for costs associated with affordable housing or economic development projects. Preference will be given for projects undertaken by small, community-based organizations, as well as mixed-use and/or mixed-income projects incorporating historic preservation, projects serving low- and moderate-income artists, supportive housing for vulnerable families and individuals, and smaller scale projects.
Jennifer Gilbert, director of the Kuehn Charitable Foundation, observed, “There are nonprofit organizations across the Commonwealth who want to improve their communities by building new affordable housing or economic development space, but are unaware of both the challenges and the funding available to do so.
“These grants will help those agencies determine what is feasible. We are partnering with CEDAC because their expertise in this area will allow these organizations to take the steps in turning their vision into a reality.”
For more than 35 years, CEDAC has provided early stage capital to nonprofit, community-based organizations engaged in effective community development, focusing on three key building blocks of community development: affordable housing, workforce development, and early care and education. CEDAC is also active in state and national housing preservation policy research and development and is widely recognized as a leader in the non-profit community development industry.
According to CEDAC, that more than 18,000 affordable apartments in Massachusetts will be at risk by the end of the decade, including over 5,000 maturing mortgage units at high risk.
For the year ending June 30, 2015, CEDAC posted $5.4 million in operating revenue and $4.8 million in expenses, according to its most recently available annual report.
http://www.massnonprofit.org/news.php?artid=4686&catid=12