In addition to the Peace Development Fund's Grantmaking and Capacity Building Programs, PDF also engages in other program work.  PDF makes investments in community-based institutions and engages with other like-minded grantmakers in furthering the goals of social justice philanthropy.

 

 

In 2007 members of the Rye Collaborative (a working group of public foundations) that includes PDF, discussed how as a group we could leverage resources to help the still hurricane ravaged Gulf Coast.  We came to the conclusion that beyond grants, it was important to invest our own funds in a regional institution as part of the rebuilding effort, but which also helps further the work for peace and social justice. 

 

While investigating ways in which to help communities rebuild in the Gulf Coast area, the Rye-Katrina Committee (of the Rye Collaborative) met with organizers and activists. We witnessed the scale of devastation and the slow pace of rebuilding. The constant refrain was that people wanted to move back. They wanted to rebuild and resist efforts to prevent that. An immediate challenge to rebuilding is the need for capital in low-income communities and communities of color to build homes as well as services and jobs. Credit unions play a vital role in providing this kind of capital. We can support and expand this capital resource by investing in local credit unions. Aside from the slow pace of rebuilding the next biggest challenge is that most neighborhoods (especially low-income communities and communities of color) lack basic services that make them livable.

 

The Rye Collaborative decided to partner with Hope Credit Union to provide loans to rehabilitate homes and reopen restaurants, day care centers, corner stores, Laundromats and other small businesses that are the heart of vibrant community life. Providing these loans now will help to determine the character of these neighborhoods for decades to come. Anchoring community-minded, local businesses in neighborhoods that have long been ignored by larger retailers is a strategy that will ensure New Orleans and other areas in the Gulf Coast are rebuilt better and more community-oriented than before.

 

 

In the Gulf Region, community development credit unions alone have approximately 500,000 mostly low-and moderate-income customers -customers who are generally the "unbanked" and who would otherwise need to rely on "fringe" financial services (e.g., payday lenders) which harden the cycle of poverty. Fringe services can exploit low-income households because they lack admission to the financial mainstream that many Americans enjoy through banks. It is this essential intermediary role that community-based financial organizations fill.

 

 

For the long-term rebuilding of New Orleans by low-income households, community-based financial organizations need additional capital. Many of their low-income borrowers were stripped of their income and assets in Hurricane Katrina and currently are unable to repay their loans. By ensuring community-based financial institutions in New Orleans and the Gulf have the necessary capital for their work, we can simultaneously ensure both continued "access to capital" for low-income households in the region and the essential financial groundwork for revitalizing all neighborhoods in New Orleans.

 

Through this Initiative, the members of the Rye Collaborative were able to invest over $1 million in the Hope Credit Union.  PDF is proud to be part of this collaborative effort to secure the future of communities in the Gulf Coast area.