Our Impact In Low Wealth Communities
As a dedicated community development bank, City First specializes in making the difficult loans that others cannot or will not make. City First borrowers, often small investors or emerging business operators, frequently tell us they were turned down by as many as ten other banks before coming to City First. Our lending team is unsurpassed at finding creative ways to extend credit, generate capital to start or expand a business, or deliver needed goods and services in low-wealth communities.
In 2014, City First experienced a tremendous burst in loan volume, originating in excess of $81.5 million in loans as compared to $65 million in 2013. In 2014, our last full year of data, 77% of those loans went to work in low- to moderate-income census tracts.
As important as those statistics are, we also measure performance by impact: How did loans originated by City First help the low-income communities we serve? In 2014, City First financed 382 units of affordable housing. Our loans helped small businesses stay in business, creating or retaining 487 jobs. And finally, our loans converted 58,259 vacant and unused square feet into useful and productive places to live and work. Since 1999, City First financing has been responsible for building or preserving 5,753 units of affordable housing and retaining or creating 4,368 jobs and a total of 8,734 additional charter school seats.
Use the links below to examine the cumulative impact of our work over the past decade.
