CommunityWorks awarded Treasury Department grant

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Greenville-based nonprofit lender CommunityWorks received $525,000 through the U.S. Treasury Department’s CDFI Fund to support financing for statewide affordable housing.

The bank, one of 422 organizations in the country to receive a portion of a $188.5 million award, was the only beneficiary of loan fund in South Carolina, according to a news release.

The award will give CommunityWorks more leverage to finance affordable housing projects across the state and offer new products to nonprofit and for-profit developers, the news release said. In 2021, the nonprofit financed more than $2 million in affordable housing projects. The Treasury Department award will help the organization expand affordable housing financing efforts in 2022 and offer new products to nonprofit and for-profit developers.

“The CDFI Fund award will allow us to fill in financing gaps that often arise in affordable housing projects,” Community Works CEO Tammie Hoy Hawkins said in the release. “This award will make it possible for CommunityWorks to use flexible financing to continue addressing the lack of affordable housing with a focus on housing preservation in South Carolina.”

Since its inception in 2008, CommunityWorks has generated more than $291 million in local economic impact, serving 6,044 families through small and micro business loans, business and financial coaching, community loans and down payment assistance, according to the organization.