Hartford Community Loan Fund, Inc.

06/28/2024

HCLF’s mission is to provide and promote just and affordable financial services that benefit the low-wealth residents of the communities we serve. So we love to see the efforts of our neighbors working hard to achieve the same mission. Here’s a great 10 minute listen from NPR’s Planet Money podcast featuring Hartford’s own Diane Lewis, whose leadership has saved Connecticut families millions of dollars each year and more importantly has helped to make it easier for family members to stay connected during challenging times, no matter where they’re living.

When Diane Lewis' son, Jovaan, was sentenced to prison, she told him to call her every day. What he didn't know at the time is that those collect calls often meant Diane was unable to pay her other bills. Today on the show, how prison phone calls got so expensive, and the movement to make them free....

03/11/2024

HCLF is proud to help finance the development vision of Vincencia Adusei for high-quality affordable homes for residents in Hartford’s north end.

https://digitaledition.courant.com/infinity/article_share.aspx?guid=87f1d062-8f03-4693-92de-06f11717879d&fbclid=IwAR2fIAN0BqE2B2Bm5Hh4teOx0-6B2kBn90anUssp8WOpT8kG-YxNzXsZFcc

One of Hartford’s most visible gateways — between downtown and the city’s North End — is expected to see significant redevelopment in the next couple of years.

02/28/2024

CEO of Hartford Community Loan Fund to step down in 2024

01/27/2023

https://ncrc.org/funding-for-racial-equity-creating-favorable-private-investment-terms-for-cdfi-lending/

HCLF’s CEO Rex Fowler recently sat down for an interview with the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to discuss the role banks can play in working more collaboratively with CDFIs to create a more equitable and inclusive platform for capital investments across the US.

Part 3 in our series examining the impact of banking institutions' racial equity commitments made in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

08/01/2022

HCLF is proud to partner with Hartford Land Bank to convert formerly vacant & blighted properties into beautiful, affordable homes for Hartford families. We’re also proud of borrowers like Jose Salazar who do such great work tackling tough projects like 471 Garden Street and grateful for our funder for this project, the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority's small multifamily loan program.

On Friday, July 29, there was a ribbon cutting for the second newly remodeled unit at 471 Garden Street.

05/09/2022

Reliance on a credit score for lending decisions locks too many out of the market for accessing affordable capital. That’s why we don’t rely on credit scores, especially for our black and brown applicants, who are unjustly ‘redlined’ by the current credit scoring system. Read this article to learn more about why the current system penalizes many residents of color and how these residents typically pay more of their hard-earned income operating in the ‘unbanked’ system (sadly, as the map in the article shows: of all states east of the Mississippi River, only Mississippi has a higher % of unbanked residents than Connecticut).

“Credit scores are the perfect example of how structural racism works,” says Chi Chi Wu of the National Consumer Law Center.

02/14/2022

Recognize the building on the front page of Sunday’s Hartford Courant? Yep – it’s the Jacobson Building, the mixed-use property in Hartford that HCLF owns and occupies. We see our building as an extension of our mission – from how it’s been rehabbed from a formerly vacant, fire-damaged neighborhood eyesore to the incredible people who now live here and operate their businesses here. Excited to receive a grant from the HartLift program launched by the City of Hartford and Hartford Chamber of Commerce – CT to help us complete the interior renovations on our property later this spring, with two new businesses moving into the Jacobson to serve our neighborhood. Once the interior work is complete, we’ll dig up the asphalt in front of the business entries and install a beautiful landscaped plaza around our property.

The first round of grants in the city of Hartford's $6 million Hart Lift storefront revitalization program range from $12,000 to $150,000.

01/27/2022

HCLF is excited to announce that in 2022 we’ll be completing the rehab of the once-vacant & blighted property we helped revitalize in 2015, and purchased and moved into in 2016. As part of our commitment to pursuing racial/economic equity, we’re working with two black-owned businesses to move into vacant retail spaces in our mixed-use property. These businesses will offer new goods and services not currently available in our neighborhood and pay rent at below current market rates.

Hartford’s initiative to help fill vacant storefronts downtown and in city neighborhoods with up to $6 million in overall funding has drawn dozens of applications since the program was announced a month ago.

11/17/2021

Hartford residents & stakeholders – come to Sacred Heart church (24 Ely Street) tonight, 11/17, to share your ideas & thoughts about what new development at the gateway to the city’s north end should include. You could also help decide the future use of Sacred Heart church!
Meeting begins @ 6PM. Can’t make it @ night? Drop by Keney Clock Tower park anytime between 2-4 & share your ideas.

11/11/2021

HCLF is proud of the great work our borrowers are doing to renovate historic properties in our communities. Check out the recently renovated property now leasing in Hartford’s north end, completed by HCLF borrower Vincencia Adusei, and a long-awaited project currently underway in New Britain, led by HCLF borrower Doug Bromfeld.

HCLF is proud of the great work our borrowers are doing to renovate historic properties in our communities.  Check out the recently renovated property now leasing in Hartford’s north end, completed by HCLF borrower Vincencia Adusei, and a long-awaited project currently underway in New Britain, le...

11/11/2021

HCLF has been one of several community organizations working with residents to create a development plan for the area around Main/Albany. The plan should be anchored in resident input and have an intentional focus on creating new opportunities for black and brown-owned small businesses. Residents will also have input into the future of the historic Sacred Heart church property. Come share your input and ideas!

11/04/2021

HCLF is excited to partner with the Hartford Land Bank to provide low-cost financing to buyers of HLB properties. This initiative is specifically for developers (whether participating in Land Bank training or not) buying, rehabbing, and selling Hartford Land Bank properties to homeowners.

In Hartford, there’s a new training program to turn some city residents of color into real estate developers.