Donor of the Month: CIT
Long after the pandemic is over, people across Los Angeles will continue to experience the effects of this economic and community health crisis. These effects are overlaid on social terrain that has been uneven for generations because of racist and sexist government policies that prevented the accumulation of wealth, property, and capital for BIPOC community members.
In order to ensure that economic relief translates into community recovery, we must ensure that our efforts are rooted in equity. During the past year, this belief has been crucial in shaping LISC LA’s mission and work. This month, we celebrate one of our partners in that work, CIT, whose commitment to our shared vision has been influential in expanding our capacity to empower recovery through relief, revitalization, and innovative creation.
It is because of our donors that LISC LA has the general operating capacity to engage in new lending that supports our vision. As part of our lending, LISC was able to provide a $2.86 million loan to Daylight Community Development for the development of new affordable housing in the San Fernando Valley.
With funding from LISC, Daylight Community Development worked with Decro Corporation and the Downtown Women’s Center to begin the creation of Oatsie’s Place, a 46-unit, affordable, supportive housing community that will serve women experiencing homelessness and survivors of domestic violence. Funding from donors like CIT made the focus on acquisition and pre-development financing for this project possible which created a foundation for the ongoing process of construction, community outreach, and forthcoming resident services.
Oatsie’s Place
In order to make these life-changing developments a reality, the support and partnership of financial organizations like CIT has been critical, especially during the course of the pandemic. The Downtown Women’s Center, serving as a social services partner in the development process with Daylight Community Development and Decro Corporation, reminds us that three out of four homeless women are unsheltered in Los Angeles County. Moreover, COVID-19 has significantly increased the number of individuals experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles, and the pandemic has worsened domestic abuse for women, including those experiencing homelessness.
With these challenges in mind, LISC’s investment in the Daylight & Decro Corporation development is a crucial part of a larger effort to create safe and stable places for women to call home.
CIT has a long history of identifying and addressing needs in the communities it serves through investments in lending, housing, community development, business and financial training and more. In partnership with LISC LA alone, CIT has sponsored our Housing Development Training Institute program with over $150,000, supported the development of an affordable housing toolkit for local governments during the pandemic, and increased financial capacity for our partners across the region. CIT’s support of programs like these ensures that our communities will have leaders in housing for years to come, and that Angelenos will have local organizations with the knowledge and passion to empower their endeavors.
During the height of the pandemic in 2020, CIT also expanded LISC LA’s COVID-19 economic relief and recovery programming with a generous grant of over $30,000. Thanks to CIT’s support and ongoing partnership, LISC LA has access to the capacity needed for a revitalization of communities across the county. In keeping with our partnership’s approach to recovery, CIT is supporting LISC LA in creating relief programs for Black, Latinx, and women-owned businesses and organizations, ensuring that Los Angeles does not simply recover, but undergoes a transformation by centering equity in spaces where it was previously lacking.
“CIT is pleased to contribute to the Local Initiatives Support Corporation LA’s economic relief and recovery efforts in low-income communities of color throughout LA County,” said Claudia Lima, Claudia Lima, Managing Director and Head of Community Lending and Investments at CIT Bank. “We support their holistic approach to aid communities in recovering from the adverse economic effects of COVID-19, which is key to ensuring essential, equitable relief for all.”
About CIT
CIT is a leading national bank focused on empowering businesses and personal savers with the financial agility to navigate their goals. CIT Group Inc. (NYSE: CIT) is a financial holding company with over a century of experience and operates a principal bank subsidiary, CIT Bank, N.A. (Member FDIC, Equal Housing Lender). The company's commercial banking segment includes commercial financing, community association banking, middle market banking, equipment and vendor financing, factoring, railcar financing, treasury and payments services, and capital markets and asset management. CIT's consumer banking segment includes a national direct bank and regional branch network. Discover more at cit.com/about.
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