Isaiah Fund Receives CDFI Fund Support

by: Laura Wintroub

Thu Aug 19, 2010 at 15:52:20 PM EDT

This morning, the Isaiah Fund, the interreligious, permanent disaster recovery loan fund that Jewish Funds for Justice hosts and manages, received a $100,000 Technical Assistance grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury's Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund.

Jeffrey Dekro, President of the Isaiah Fund, received the award from CDFI Fund Director Donna Gambrel, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, Congressman José Serrano, and U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios (Dekro pictured below with Serrano, Velazquez, and Gambrel).

The awards ceremony took place at El Maguey Y La Tuna, a Mexican restaurant on the Lower East Side in Manhattan.

The owner, Maria Cortez, financed the relocation of her restaurant to the Lower East Side in 2002 through a loan from the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union, a local CDFI that also received an award today, after the restaurant's original location in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was destroyed in a fire.  Maria spoke eloquently about her experiences looking for financing from traditional banks only to be turned down.  The Lower East Side Credit Union believed in Maria when traditional banks considered her business too risky.  Seven years later, her restaurant is thriving and she is living her dream of being her own boss.

The CDFI Fund's award to JFSJ for the Isaiah Fund is important for several reasons.  First, it will inrease our capacity to deploy low-cost capital in low-income communities hardest hit by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and most in need of affordable housing, community facilities, and small businesses.  Second, this is an historic grant for the Isaiah Fund and for Jewish Funds for Justice, as it is its first federal grant.  This wonderful support from the CDFI Fund will play a very important role in building the Isaiah Fund's ability to carry out its long-term investment work in the Gulf Coast.  Thank you CDFI Fund!