Netflix had made a $25 million commitment to seed Equitable Path Forward, Enterprise Community Partners’ five-year, $3.5 billion initiative to counter racial inequities rooted in housing, according to Enterprise leaders.
The multipronged initiative establishes an equitable path forward for Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) and other historically marginalized housing providers by filling the gaping capital gap from decades of systemic racism, strengthening providers through advisory services and other support, and creating new career pathways to diversify leadership in real estate, announced the firm.
“Our vision is nothing short of dismantling the legacy of racism in housing,” said Priscilla Almodovar, president and CEO of Enterprise Community Partners. “By investing in these housing providers who are on the ground and engaged with their communities, Equitable Path Forward will lead to a new and needed level of responsiveness, investment, and equity in the communities that get built.”
Equitable Path Forward’s multipronged approach includes three main pillars:
Equitable Path Forward Growth Fund
A $350 million Growth Fund that will attract an additional $3.1 billion of debt, equity, and grants to provide BIPOC-led and other historically marginalized housing providers both entity-level and project-level capital to grow their businesses and pipelines of affordable homes. Enterprise has seeded this fund with $10 million of its own capital.
To maximize the leverage of this capital, Enterprise will incorporate a standby guaranty facility—initially backed by Enterprise’s balance sheet as it seeks additional investors—for housing providers to compete for institutional capital on a level playing field. This will enable larger, lower-cost, and longer-term investments in affordable homes developed and preserved by providers who have historically lacked the balance sheet required to attract this capital in the first place or, if able to attract capital only do so at costly terms that dilute the ability to scale their pipeline and build wealth.
Equitable Path Forward Developer Advisory Services
A $15 million program to deliver comprehensive consulting, networking facilitation, business services, and evaluation support to help organizations and businesses working in communities across Enterprise’s nationwide footprint expand their capacity and be better prepared to deploy and leverage capital to preserve and create affordable homes.
Equitable Path Forward Leadership Program
A $10 million, two-year rotational program in real estate—modeled after the distinguished programs at major industrial and financial firms—for future BIPOC and other historically marginalized leaders.
“Black and other historically marginalized leaders have been fighting to better their communities for decades but have lacked the capital to do so. That’s why Netflix is investing $25 million in Enterprise’s initiative,” said Netflix treasury director Shannon Alwyn. “We invite more companies to join the movement and support visionary initiatives like Equitable Path Forward.”
Equitable Path Forward capital and expertise will be deployed nationally, with a focus in the following cities and regions across the United States: Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Gulf Coast, Mid-Atlantic, New York, Northern California, Ohio, Pacific Northwest, Southeast, and Southern California.
The initiative is spearheaded by BIPOC leaders of Enterprise, including Almodovar; Lori Chatman, president of Enterprise Community Loan Fund; and, Jacqueline Waggoner, president of Enterprise’s Solutions division.
