On Sunday, May 5th, A Wider Circle invites you to walk, run, bike, or ride to its Center for Community Service in Silver Spring, arriving anytime from 12:00pm – 4:00pm to engage in an afternoon of community-building activities.

The center is located at 9159 Brookville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910 and, upon arrival, you will have the option to choose from a variety of family-friendly volunteer service projects! Click here to register.

Can’t make it on May 5? No problem! A Wider Circle invites schools, congregations and businesses to host community walks on their property from May 5th – May 11th.Email volunteer@awidercircle.org if you would like to have a speaker from A Wider Circle at your community walk.

Walk sponsorships are available and include numerous opportunities with full branding and exposure as a community partner. Click here for details on sponsor levels and benefits.

David Bowers, Enterprise Community Partners Market Leader & Co-Convener of the Housing Leaders Group of Greater Washington launches the Capital Region Housing Challenge. Photo courtesy of Bisnow.

The recently launched Capital Region Housing Challenge, was featured in a recent Bisnow article. Titled, “D.C.-Area Business Leaders Launch $1B Affordable Housing Challenge,” the story details the regional effort to catalyze $1 billion to accelerate greater housing affordability in the Capital Region. An excerpt from the piece reads:

The Housing Leaders Group of Greater Washington launched the Capital Region Housing Challenge, an effort to spur the D.C. region’s public and private sectors to each add $500M in affordable housing investments above their current baseline by the end of 2020.

Housing Leaders Group co-convenor David Bowers, also the market leader for Enterprise Community Partners, announced the challenge at Bisnow’s Metro D.C. Affordable Housing Summit Wednesday morning in a rousing call to action.

‘The challenge is the call to work collectively, across sectors and geographic boundaries, to fundamentally move the baseline of thinking and investment and connect capital to solutions,” Bowers said. “Those of you that are already investing, we’re challenging you to do more.’

Bowers emphasized that the challenge does not represent a new fund. Rather it is a campaign to spur additional investment in affordable housing from a wide range of sources by setting an ambitious goal and tracking its progress over the next 21 months.

HAND is a member of the Housing Leaders Group of Greater Washington, and you can learn more about the partnership here.

You can find more information on the Challenge and its launch here.

As a proud member of the Housing Leaders Group of Greater Washington (HLG), HAND is excited to share its new initiative: the CAPITAL REGION HOUSING CHALLENGE! Officially launched at the D.C. Metro Affordable Housing Summit, the challenge is a cross-sector, capital solutions platform created to catalyze $1 billion dollars of NEW capital commitments that will accelerate greater housing affordability in the Capital Region. As a key stakeholder, we wanted to make sure you heard the news, and most importantly, know how you can get involved!

WHAT IS THE CAPITAL REGION HOUSING CHALLENGE?
Effectively addressing housing affordability requires a collective effort across multiple sectors and jurisdictions in the Capital Region. The Challenge is a multi-faceted effort to secure $1 billion toward housing affordability in the region by 2020 ($500 million in new private capital and $500 million in new public funds above current commitments).

The Challenge is not creating a new fund, rather it’s a platform to catalyze support and a regional commitment to scale the investment of public and private resources to meet the region’s housing production needs.

READY TO TAKE THE CHALLENGE?
Commitments from private investors, employers, anchor institutions, the philanthropic sector, as well as local and state governments are encouraged. Thank you to these organizations that have accepted the challenge!

• Bernstein Management Corporation
• Greater Washington Community Foundation Partnership to End Homelessness
• Justice Housing Partners
• Kaiser Permanente
• Metro IAF Community Restoration Fund, LLC
• Montgomery Housing Partnership
• The Washington Housing Initiative (Federal City Council & JBG SMITH)

In addition to catalyzing capital to support regional housing affordability, HLG will also be actively engaged in advocacy campaigns that align with the goals of the Challenge. In particular, state and local Trust Funds can leverage significant additional private investment to ensure housing affordability production, preservation, and additional housing support for individuals and families across the income spectrum. HLG will promote working with government officials, housing practitioners, and advocates to create or expand local housing trust funds in every jurisdiction in our region.

Check out this fact sheet for more information on the Challenge and how your organization can get involved.

You can read the full press release on the Challenge’s launch here.

HAND is pleased to announce that seven of its members are recipients of Capital Magnet Funds. The Capital Magnet Fund helps low-income families and economically distressed communities by attracting investment for affordable housing and related economic development. The Capital Magnet Fund provides competitively awarded grants to CDFIs and qualified non-profit housing organizations to develop, rehabilitate, preserve, and purchase affordable housing for Low-, Very Low-, and Extremely Low-Income families. Capital Magnet Fund awards can be used to finance affordable housing activities as well as related economic development and community service facilities such as day care centers, workforce development centers and health care clinics.

Of the 116 applicants, the Capital Magnet Fund awarded a total of 38 organizations, 14 of which are nonprofit housing organizations, and 24 of which are CDFIs. $142.9 million was awarded in total. Awardees plan to develop more than 25,700 affordable homes, including 23,000 rental units and 2,700 homeownership units. Combined, 95% of all housing will be developed for Low-Income Families (80% of the Area Median Income or below).

HAND members who received funding are as follows:

• Enterprise
• Mission First Housing Group
• Jubilee Housing
• Low Income Investment Fund
• National Housing Trust
• Preservation of Affordable Housing
• Volunteers of America

More details on the latest round of funding here. Congratulations to all awardees!