Partnerships with the Federal Government
In 1993, Living Cities and HUD established an unprecedented public-private partnership, providing a 3-to-1, private sector-to-government match. Unlike the majority of federal dollars, these funds have been flexible, unencumbered by bureaucratic regulations, and received and distributed by nonprofit intermediaries, Enterprise Community Partners and Local Initiatives Support Corporation, to community groups in cities across the country.
Taken together, this partnership has become the single largest funding stream broadly dedicated to building local institutions. Local organizations have leveraged the millions of federal dollars provided into billions through private sector, state and local matching grants, tax credits, loan guarantees and credit enhancements. Since 1993, $300 million in federal funds have been leveraged 30 times over. This $9 billion has built 140,000 homes, thousands of schools, child care programs and small businesses and has created a network of durable, sophisticated community organizations.