Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing
NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Julia Brennan at 203-227-9755, jbrennan@lisc.org or
Betty Cordellos at 203-656-0207, C-PR@att.net
Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing
489 Post Road East . Westport, CT 06880 Tel: 203-227-9755
[JPG image attached – see end of release]
Fairfield County Community Foundation Invests In Affordable Housing
$300,000 Leadership Grant bolsters Collaborative Approach to
the Affordable Housing Crisis throughout Fairfield County
(Westport, CT – October 28, 2008) The decline in the price of the average single family home in Fairfield County to $545,000 will not benefit the 52,000 families across Fairfield County who can neither afford half a million dollar asking prices nor find an appropriate place to rent in the most expensive rental market in the nation. Recognizing that an entrenched affordable housing crisis requires a long term concerted effort, the Fairfield County Community Foundation (the Community Foundation) has renewed its leadership level commitment to addressing one of the region’s most pressing and persistent problems. The Community Foundation has awarded $300,000 to the Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing (the Collaborative Fund) to spur the production and preservation of affordable housing throughout Fairfield County. W. Michael Funck of Greenwich is Chairman of the Board of the Fairfield County Community Foundation.
The Collaborative Fund was formed in 2006 by the Fairfield County Community Foundation, corporations, banks, United Ways and private charitable organizations to address the growing shortage of affordable housing in Fairfield County that threatens the quality of life and the future economies in each of the county’s interdependent towns and cities.
Since its first grant award in 2007, the Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing has awarded $905,000 in grants to eight qualified non-profit housing developers working in Fairfield County. These nonprofit developers have a substantial number of units--more than 1,000--in the development pipeline and 1,083 units under management. In total, these projects and properties will benefit 5,010 residents of Fairfield County.
This is the third consecutive year that the Fairfield County Community Foundation has endorsed the Collaborative’s work with a major leadership grant. A long time advocate and supporter of affordable housing, the Community Foundation was also one of the driving forces behind the formation of the Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing in 2006. The 2008 grant is the largest grant in the Community Foundation’s history and underscores its commitment to addressing one of Fairfield County’s most pressing regional needs. This year’s commitment brings the Foundation’s support to $900,000 since 2006.
“We created the Collaborative Fund because we realized that by working together, private funders can have a greater impact on the affordable housing issue,” said Susan Ross, president and CEO. The Collaborative Fund now has 21 active private funding members, making it the largest collaborative fund in Fairfield County.
The Collaborative Fund maximizes donor resources and impact to encourage larger scale production of quality housing by strengthening nonprofit housing developers who are already working to produce affordable rental and ownership housing across Fairfield County. In addition to core operating support, the Collaborative Fund provides technical resources to develop community partnerships that will bolster the long-term sustainability of these housing initiatives. The Connecticut office of Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a nationally recognized nonprofit leader in providing financial and technical assistance to nonprofit housing developers, manages the Collaborative Fund on behalf of the funders. The Collaborative operates from office space donated by the United Way of Coastal Fairfield County in Westport, CT.
The Fairfield County Community Foundation promotes the growth of community and regional philanthropy to improve the quality of life throughout Fairfield County. Individuals, families, corporations and organizations can establish charitable funds and contribute to existing funds. The Foundation also provides philanthropic advisory services and develops and leads initiatives to tackle critical community issues. It is in compliance with the Council on Foundations' national standards for community foundations. The Fairfield County Community Foundation merged with the Greater Bridgeport Area Foundation in January 2008. The merged Foundation's net assets exceed $130 million. The combined history includes over $100 million in grantmaking to nonprofits in Fairfield County and beyond. For more information, visit http://www.fccfoundation.org/.
To learn more about the affordable housing crisis and how the Collaborative Fund is pooling financial and technical resources to generate the creation of more affordable housing, please phone Julia Brennan, Program Officer of the Collaborative Fund at 203-227-9755 or e-mail jbrennan@lisc.org.
###
IMAGE: (l-r) Julia Brennan, Program Officer, Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing and Greenwich resident W. Michael Funck, Chairman of the Board, Fairfield County Community Foundation and a Senior Advisor at Hynes, Himmelreich, Glennon & Company, a financial planning and wealth management firm located in Darien, CT, tour the newly completed Madison Smith Apartments in Stamford developed by New Neighborhoods, Inc., one of two Stamford-based major beneficiaries, with Mutual Housing Association of SW CT, of Collaborative Funding. Building and preserving affordable housing is a priority for the Fairfield County Community Foundation. A $300,000 Grant from the Fairfield County Community Foundation (http://www.fccfoundation.org/) to the Fairfield County Collaborative Fund for Affordable Housing is being pooled with funds from other private sector donors to spur production and preservation of affordable housing by nonprofit housing developers throughout Fairfield County. Underscoring its long term commitment to a coordinated county-wide approach, this leadership grant is the largest competitive award in the Community Foundation’s history for a third consecutive year and brings its commitment to $900,000 since 2006.
=================================================
Please Send Your Comments And Press Releases To GreenwichRoundup@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment