If you haven’t heard of IFF yet, you likely will soon. IFF, headquartered in Chicago, is the Midwest’s largest community development financial institution (CDFI) and has been the behind-the-scenes driver of some crucial nonprofit development projects in Kansas City. In 2020, IFF named Community Builders of Kansas City President and CEO Emmet Pierson, Jr., to its national board and later took office space at CBKC’s 5008 Prospect building to focus on the area.
“IFF maintains a deep commitment to Kansas City given all of the critical community-based work Kansas City nonprofits are leading,” said Stephen Westbrooks, IFF executive director, Southern Region. “We’re here to help accelerate and strengthen their missions.”
IFF was founded in 1988 as a nonprofit lender, developer and consultant focused on helping Midwest nonprofits. It offers non-appraisal-based lending, real estate and facilities development services and research studies, exclusively for nonprofits operating in urban cores.
One of IFF’s most recent local projects is serving as owner’s representative for Swope Health on its new Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE®) on the CBKC campus. Located adjacent to Swope Health Central at 4141 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the PACE KC Adult Wellness Center will provide a full range of personalized healthcare and wellness services to allow older adults to age gracefully in their home communities. The project is currently under construction and is scheduled to be completed by June 2023.
“As owner representative for the PACE KC project, we’re able to employ our expertise in construction management, which includes navigating the complex financing tools typically involved in nonprofit development to comprehensively represent Swope Health’s leadership and board on all facets of the project,” said Westbrooks.
IFF was instrumental in the creation of the Emmanuel Family and Early Childhood Development Center’s new 28,000-square-foot facility with the capacity to serve 370 children, a much-needed early childhood center in Kansas City’s urban core at 4736 Prospect.
“We became involved when the owner hit significant hurdles, and we were able to offer support by bringing the right expertise to the team, advance the financing and shepherd the project to completion,” said Westbrooks.
IFF has been a vital player in other local development by nonprofits such as BlaqOut, Inc., that recently closed on a $1.2 million IFF loan for its new 6,000-square-foot headquarters in the heart of midtown Kansas City. BlaqOut supports the physical and emotional needs of Black queer/Same Gender Loving men in the Kansas City area. The new headquarters will serve as a one-stop shop for its members.
Community Housing of Wyandotte County (CHWC) is a nonprofit that works to stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods and communities through affordable housing, community engagement and placemaking. A longtime IFF client, it recently closed on a $630,000 land acquisition and predevelopment loan to support the development of mixed-income, for-sale housing.
Also on the Kansas side of the state line, KidZone Learning Center of Wyandotte County, Inc., an early learning center affiliated with the Kansas District of Wesleyan Church, has been supported by IFF through flexible financing in excess of $1.8 million for land acquisition, construction and site improvements.
IFF, founded as the Illinois Facilities Fund, also has offices in Columbus, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Milwaukee and St. Louis.