JPMorgan Chase unveiled on Wednesday a $100 million, five-year commitment to support and accelerate Detroit’s economic recovery and strengthen its communities through financial and hands-on support for organizations that are working to address the city’s most urgent challenges.
The financial services giant says it spent the past several months working closely with Detroit’s community and government leaders to learn about their priorities and vision for the city.
JPMorgan Chase’s commitment includes:
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Investing in Detroit’s community development: The firm is putting its community development banking expertise to work for Detroit by providing $40 million in flexible, long-term debt capital and $10 million in grant capital to two leading nonprofit community development lenders, Invest Detroit and Capital Impact Partners. This commitment will finance critical projects to help turn around struggling neighborhoods and grow small businesses. Financing will provide and leverage capital for residential, commercial and retail development projects that often lack access to conventional financing, spurring others to invest.
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Tackling blight: Confronting blight is a critical lynchpin in Detroit’s revitalization. Working with the Detroit Land Bank Authority and the Blight Task Force, JPMorgan Chase is committing $25 million to help accelerate the city’s efforts to end residential blight, restore properties to productive use, and stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods. This commitment also will fully fund the second phase of the Motor City Mapping project, which has been credited with helping city leaders document blighted parcels, and will develop a critical tool to ensure residents have a voice in their neighborhood’s future. IBM will seed a Rehab Loan Pilot Program for families to rehabilitate homes they purchase through the city’s Neighbors Wanted property auction.
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Strengthening workforce readiness: JPMorgan Chase is committing $12.5 million to better link the city’s workforce development efforts with employer needs and give Detroit residents access to training in the skills employers are seeking. Working with partners such as the Detroit Employment Solutions Corporation and the Workforce Innovation Network, this commitment will identify growing economic sectors and create collaborative programs to train workers and develop career pathways.
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Growing small businesses: The firm is committing $7 million to support Detroit’s small business clusters, including Bizdom and Eastern Market. These clusters are connecting small businesses and entrepreneurs to the resources and expertise they need to get their companies off the ground, catalyzing broader growth and employment — both downtown and within the neighborhoods.
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Seeding future economic growth: JPMorgan Chase is committing $5.5 million in strategic initiatives that are important to Detroit’s future economic growth by investing in the new M-1 rail line and bringing the Global Cities Initiative, a joint project of Brookings and JPMorgan Chase, to Detroit. The commitment also will support other local organizations working to revitalize the city.
JPMorgan Chase says it also is applying the experience and skills of its employees to help Detroit’s nonprofits strengthen their capacity to solve the community’s toughest problems. Through the JPMorgan Chase Detroit Service Corps, dedicated teams of volunteers will put their business expertise to work, providing capacity building and technical assistance to help local nonprofits find solutions to challenges they have identified.
Along with a handful of mission-driven startups, several incubators also are working to revitalize Detroit’s economy through entrepreneurship. One of the oldest and most established of these incubators, TechTown Detroit has, in the past, negotiated partnership agreements with General Motors and Henry Ford Health System to sponsor a business accelerator for technology businesses, especially university spin-outs. Today, the organization also supports retail and wholesale enterprises for a more holistic approach to economic development.
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Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Mike Hower is the founder of Hower Impact — a boutique consultancy delivering best-in-class strategic communication advisory and support for corporate sustainability, ESG and climate tech.
Published May 25, 2014 8pm EDT / 5pm PDT / 1am BST / 2am CEST