CommunityWorks awarded $875,000 grant

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CommunityWorks has been awarded an $875,000 capital grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution Fund to bolster community development lending efforts.

CommunityWorks will use most of the funds to support its Affordable Housing Loan Program which provides loans up to $500,000 to developers and governmental entities to fund acquisition, short-term bridge financing, development, construction and preservation of affordable housing in the community, according to a news release.

Grant funds will also be used for CommunityWorks’ Express Loan Program, which provides entrepreneurs with loans up to $5,000 and an expedited processing for business owners that may not qualify for traditional financing elsewhere.

“We are honored to be selected as the recipients of the CDFI Fund,” Deborah McKetty, president and CEO of CommunityWorks, said in the release. “These additional funds will ensure our continued support of affordable housing and economic development and will allow us to continue our efforts to assist hardworking people in our community who will have greater access to affordable housing and stronger support systems to pursue their dreams of entrepreneurship, homeownership and building financial stability and wealth.”

The Greenville Housing Fund, which announced $863,000 in funding last week to enable the completion of more than 100 affordable homes that were not fully financed, was formed under CommunityWorks earlier this year. Representatives of city and the benefiting organizations — Homes of Hope, Habitat for Humanity and Bywater Development — gathered to make the announcement at Stratham Place in Greenville.

The Community Development Financial Institution Fund awarded $202.2 million to 302 Community Development Financial Institutions that serve low-income families and economically distressed communities across the nation, the news release said. CommunityWorks was one of three organizations in South Carolina to receive the federal grant.