Enterprise Community Partners has announced commitments of $20 million from Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and $5 million from the Community Investment Guarantee Pool (CIGP) in support of efforts to advance racial equity in housing.  

The funding will support Enterprise's Equitable Path Forward, a five-year, $3.5 billion initiative aimed at increasing investments in Black, Indigenous, people of color, and other historically marginalized housing providers, and includes $5 million in second-loss guarantee support from CIGP and $10 million from Schusterman Philanthropies in support of a first-of-its kind Standby Guaranty Facility, a credit enhancement mechanism that will help unlock capital for BIPOC developers whose balance sheets do not meet traditional investor requirements. Among other things, the facility will eliminate the need for developers to secure a third-party co-guarantor — which can reduce their potential profits and perpetuate barriers to the growth of their businesses — and enable Enterprise to provide guarantees at the developer, project, or fund level.     

The remaining $10 million from Schusterman Philanthropies will be used to provide growth capital and advisory services to BIPOC developers as they expand their operations and create impact in their communities.

"For centuries, Black entrepreneurs have lacked access to the capital we all need to be able to start and build businesses, and even when that capital was available, it was frequently overpriced," said Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies board chair Stacy Schusterman. "We are pleased to support Enterprise Community Partners' national effort to provide financing to developers of color so they can build their businesses while creating more affordable housing for the many families in need. We believe that through efforts to develop new community development finance models, all developers can be afforded equitable access to capital, and the nation's supply of affordable housing can expand in the process."

(Photo credit: Andrey Sayfutdinov/GettyImages)