Community Vision CA’s $130 million loan fund was originally launched as the Northern California Community Loan Fund by community leaders who wanted to finance nonprofits and social enterprises in California’s low-income, underserved communities.
The David and Lucile Packard Foundation’s $5 million debt investment came through its $250 million mission investing strategy.
“Investing in Community Vision’s loan fund helps ensure that capital reaches the communities and leaders driving lasting change,” said Packard’s Madeline Wu, who said the loans will help build “a stronger California where more families can afford stable housing.”
Investing in health
Community Vision’s Catherine Howard told ImpactAlpha a year ago that community real estate ownership is an anti-gentrification tool that builds political and financial power. The CDFI has deployed $50.6 million across 18 loans this year.
The deals include $7.2 million in pre-development financing for three new Camarena Health facilities in California’s Madera County, a “medical desert,” to provide medical, dental, behavioral health, pediatric and senior care to roughly 17,000 local patients, majority of which are low income.
Community Vision’s 2025 portfolio also includes loans to small businesses, affordable housing developers and education providers.
Combating displacement
The investment from Packard “will expand the flexible capital Community Vision deploys to help mission-driven organizations purchase, preserve, and develop the community assets that make California’s neighborhoods thrive—from affordable housing to health clinics to cultural and arts spaces,” Howard told ImpactAlpha.
The CDFI loan fund has provided financing to preserve homeownership for low-income Californians and revitalize commercial corridors through community ownership of art spaces and local land and real estate.
Community Vision’s California Community-Owned Real Estate program, or CalCORE program, trains and finances community land trusts and local developers to expand shared ownership of real estate in California.
