(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC), the state of New Jersey’s largest community development financial institution (CDFI), has announced it received $40 million in New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program Awards from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund. This investment is part of a larger $5 billion round of funding in NMTC awards nationwide aimed to support economic development initiatives in rural and urban low-income communities.
“This award will support our programs and lending services that foster equitable and enriched communities for residents in New Jersey who need it most,” said Bernel Hall, President and CEO of New Jersey Community Capital. “We’re honored to receive this funding and to be recognized as a leading CDFI that actively invests in small businesses, economic development, job creation and more. “Special thanks to the U.S. Department of Treasury CDFI Fund for once again entrusting New Jersey Community Capital with this impactful award.”
The funding comes as NJCC celebrates an impactful fiscal year, including the launch of an Equitable Small Business Initiative in partnership with the New Jersey African American Chamber of Commerce to provide loans to 16 New Jersey-based small businesses owned by people of color. NJCC has utilized previous NMTC awards to support area Boys & Girls Clubs, CompleteCare Bridgeton’s redevelopment and the Social Profit Center at Mill One – an affordable mixed-use workspace for local nonprofits and artists.
Since the inception of the NMTC program, NJCC has deployed $249,500,000 in NMTC allocation across projects in the State of New Jersey. NJCC is one of 107 award recipients that collectively deployed more than $62.9 billion in investments in low-income communities and businesses; with impacts such as the creation or retention of more than 857,000 jobs and the construction or rehabilitation of nearly 239 million square feet of commercial real estate in FY 2021. The award recipients are headquartered in 35 different states and the District of Columbia with over 20 percent of the investments being made in non-metropolitan communities.
NJCC is listed as Community Loan Fund of New Jersey, Inc. in the CDFI NMTC database.
New Jersey Community Capital (NJCC) is a nonprofit community development financial institution (CDFI) that provides an innovative toolkit of financial products, programs and services to advance equity and opportunity in underserved communities. NJCC supports the preservation and development of affordable housing and sustainable community development ventures that increase jobs, improve education and strengthen neighborhoods to ensure that communities can thrive.
The New Markets Tax Credit Program, established by Congress in December 2000, permits individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a non-refundable tax credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in financial intermediaries known as Community Development Entities (CDEs). CDEs that receive the tax credit allocation authority under the program are domestic corporations or partnerships that provide loans, investments, or financial counseling in low-income urban and rural communities. The tax credit provided to the investor totals 39% of the cost of the investment and is claimed over a seven-year period. The CDEs in turn use the capital raised to make investments in low-income communities. CDEs must apply annually to the CDFI Fund to compete for New Markets Tax Credit Program allocation authority. Since the inception of the NMTC Program, the CDFI Fund has completed 18 allocation rounds and has made 1,461 awards totaling $71 billion in tax allocation authority. This includes $3 billion in Recovery Act Awards and $1 billion of special allocation authority used for the recovery and redevelopment of the Gulf Opportunity Zone.
