Cinnaire was awarded $60M for high-impact projects in ‘disinvested neighborhoods’

Cinnaire, a Michigan-headquartered nonprofit CDFI lender with a mid-Atlantic location in downtown Wilmington, has been awarded a $60 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Allocation from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). The funding is to be used to invest in high-impact projects in disinvested communities.

Over the course of the history of the program, Cinnaire has used NMTC investments to finance 42 projects, including the Fintech Innovation Hub in Newark, with a total development cost of $1.46 billion.

“The New Markets Tax Credit has proven to be one of the most successful models for a public-private partnership, driving capital to America’s most disinvested neighborhoods,” said Mark McDaniel, Cinnaire president and CEO, in a statement.

“With this year’s award, we are focusing on organizations that support education, including early childhood, school-age children and adults seeking vocation training opportunities,” McDaniel said of the $60 million. “We also plan to support projects that create job opportunities for individuals without a college degree or other barriers to obtaining employment. We look forward to partnering with and providing NMTC allocation to projects that will help all people have access to the tools and opportunities they need to succeed.”

Cinnaire also runs Jumpstart Wilmington, modeled after the original Jumpstart Germantown program in Philadelphia created by Ken Weinstein. The program is working to revitalize neighborhoods by empowering its residents to become its property owners, developers and renovators.

The U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund announcement brings the total amount awarded through the NMTC Program to $66 billion.

“These investments will create jobs and spur economic growth in urban and rural communities across the country,” Secretary of the U.S. Treasury Janet Yellen said. “Many of the communities that will receive these funds have confronted economic challenges over many decades. Challenges which have been made more difficult by a lack of investment. It’s critical that Congress sustain these investments over time by making the New Markets Tax Credit Program permanent.”