Milwaukee, WI – FCI partnered with HAWA to purchase a building for the first time. The new location at 3030 W. Highland Blvd. will give them the space to increase services and continue to provide advocacy services and community resources for Milwaukee’s Hmong and other Southeast Asian Women, Girls, Queer and Trans community members. This is a historic moment for the organization that has dedicated over 25 years of leadership in the Hmong community.
“This space will allow us to do all the things community members have been asking from us for years! And this will also be a space where we will continue to dream and organize around things that we care about.” States HAWA’s Executive Director Tammie Xiong.
FCI, a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) is an investor, connector, and advisor for nonprofit organizations, initiatives, and emerging developers that reduce social, racial, and economic disparities in Wisconsin. The primary goal is to infuse capital into economically underserved communities and neighborhoods using a variety of lending tools.
Margaret Henningsen, FCI’s Senior Community Advisor, notes, “Financing the purchase of HAWA’s building is the perfect example of the best and highest use of FCI funds. The organization will become a nonprofit that owns its own space, using it to increase much-needed services; generating additional revenue by providing space to other smaller nonprofits; and, become a fabulous location for community events. This is a win-win for everyone!”
In addition to FCI’s standard nonprofit facility financing offered HAWA, FCI also offers other tools for financing deals. One of these tools is our New Markets Tax Credits program (NMTC) that allows FCI to finance high-cost socially impactful projects via low-cost low-interest loans with flexible terms and interest-only payments. Consistent with our mission to support community-led projects that work to address issues of racial inequality and socioeconomic disparities, FCI has invested in childcare facilities, recreational facilities, community health centers, charter schools, and youth arts and performance centers with our NMTC allocations.
In just the past seven months, FCI was able to utilize its NMTC program to assist two other nonprofits expand their services.
- The Sixteenth Street Community Health Centers (SSCHC) – FCI helped finance the purchase of a former office building in the Clarke Square neighborhood in Milwaukee that will be rehabbed into a behavioral health facility which will greatly increase access to behavioral health and substance abuse treatment for the under and uninsured.
- Milwaukee Youth Arts Center (MYAC) – FCI financed an expansion of their current space
which allows them to serve an additional 20,000 youth in arts training and education while also providing space that nurtures youth from ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds in 60 communities across southeastern Wisconsin.
About Forward Community Investments
FCI is an investor, connector, and advisor for organizations and initiatives that reduce social, racial, and economic disparities in Wisconsin communities. We envision an equitable and inclusive Wisconsin built on cooperative social action. In its capacity as a statewide community development financial institution (CDFI), FCI infuses capital into economically underserved communities and neighborhoods. www.forwardci.org https://www.facebook.com/forwardcommunityinvestments https://twitter.com/forwardci
