New Markets Tax Credits and innovative FCI-facilitated partnerships help Sojourner Family Peace Center become a groundbreaking national model for serving families affected by domestic violence.
Challenge
Sojourner Family Peace Center has been helping families affected by domestic violence for 40 years by providing emergency shelter and other services. Sojourner is one of the first facilities in the nation to house holistic services for domestic violence victims of all ages. The Center connects survivors of family violence to a broad array community resources. Children’s hospital and law enforcement have a presence there, as do agencies providing drug and alcohol counseling, employment services, mental health, legal assistance, and range of other services.
Action
FCI provided $5 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation for the project, partnering with Consortium America ($6 million) and Illinois Facilities Fund ($10 million) to provide a total of $21 million in NMTC financing, and PNC Bank provided $6.8 million in NMTC equity to the project. FCI was instrumental in shepherding the financial aspects of the project to completion, providing development services to the borrower to structure and close the NMTC transaction and acting as a liaison among project partners.
Impact
The new facility takes Sojourner’s service to a new, nearly unprecedented level. At its existing facility, Sojourner maintained a 46-bed emergency shelter for abused women and children, where the typical stay is 30 to 45 days. The new building increases the number of beds to 56 and doubles the number of bathrooms to eight. The new building has six single rooms, four double rooms and 11 family rooms. Some of the family rooms are connected by an adjoining door so that larger families can be placed beside each other. Amenities include a workout room, a quiet room, a health room for health screenings, a cafeteria and café, four breakout rooms and a 200-person capacity theater. Sojourner supports 130 to 150 jobs, including 20 to 25 new positions added with the development of the new Center.
Learn more about Sojourner Family Peace Center.
