Coalition for a Better Acre nets $1M from MacKenzie Scott fund

LOWELL — On Wednesday, the Coalition for a Better Acre announced that it was investing the $1 million it received from billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s Yield Giving platform in affordable housing.

“Two weeks ago, there was a property that came on the market in the Acre neighborhood, and the sale price was $999,999,” CBA CEO Yun-Ju Choi said by phone. “We just signed off on the paperwork today.”

The deal brings CBA closer to its plan to build 40 affordable apartment units for residents earning up to 60% of area median income, which is considered lower income.

The Yield Giving Open Call was announced last March, soliciting community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to enable individuals and families to achieve substantive improvement in their well-being through foundational resources.

CBA was among only 361 organizations — from a total of more than 6,000 that applied — to receive an award. Eligible organizations had annual budgets of between $1 million and $5 million, and unlike the majority of other funding, comes with no strings attached.

Choi said the “once-in-a-lifetime, pie-in-the-sky” award is one-third its budget, but gives the nonprofit “a lot of flexibility.”

“There are no conditions,” Choi said. “They’re just giving one-time money to use any way we see fit. They don’t even need a report on how we spent the money.”

The Open Call award allowed a small, one-off developer like CBA to bring money to the table for a market-rate housing opportunity.

“It was a good fit and perfect timing,” Choi said. “When you have site control, it helps us with the funding.”

The nonprofit will borrow, secure tax credits and find different funding sources to be develop the as-yet unnamed project located not far from the Stoklosa Middle School. Choi said the housing development will bring $25 million to $30 million of investment into the Acre neighborhood.

“It’s giving us a project that’s going to be leveraged into 25, 30 times more than what Yield Giving is giving us,” she said.

Development Coordinator Sanary Phen took on the grant writing duties of the application process, which included submitting a video. The 90-second clip features founder Charlie Gargiulo talking about the community empowerment origins of the organization.

Established by a group of residents, clergy, businesspeople and nonprofit leaders in 1982, CBA mobilized residents to fight to save the Acre Triangle from an urban renewal plan that would have displaced hundreds of residents.

“The people who had been here for many years, we thought they should benefit from that revitalization, not be victims of that revitalization,” Gargiulo said in a historical clip.

One year after its founding, CBA revitalized 38 housing units in the Acre Triangle, making it possible for 24 low- and moderate-income families to become homeowners and providing rental units for 14 others. The homeownership rate in the Acre Triangle neighborhood increased dramatically, from 1% to 25%.

Today, the member-driven, nonprofit community development corporation provides 556 units of affordable housing and a range of free programs that support resident empowerment, said CBA Director of Programs Cecilia Gutierrez Yapur.

“Housing by itself is not going to get [people] out of the cycle of poverty,” she said during her video segment, going on to discuss CBA’s other offerings, including English classes and a food pantry serving 550 families. “We target people who are in need of jobs. We offer sewing classes, we offer an after-school program, sports programs through our Roberto Clemente League, civic engagement, where to vote, how to vote, get registered, who is running.

“We feel like communities that eat together, party together, stay together and work together,” she closes the clip.

Choi said that when she saw the video the CBA staff had created, she thought, “We’re going to win that money.”

The Acre has become a focal point of housing development with dozens of units coming online starting in April.

The Acre Crossing project at Merrimack and Cabot streets will be home to a five-story Jeanne D’Arc Credit Union office building. It will also consist of 32 newly constructed condominiums, including 24 two-bedroom and eight three-bedroom units, that will come on market this summer to first-time homebuyers earning at or below 100% area median income.

Suffolk Place at Market and Suffolk streets, around the corner from Acre Crossing and just blocks from City Hall, will bring 33 newly constructed condominiums to first-time homebuyers earning at or below 100% area median income.

It’s the kind of mixed neighborhood development that City Councilor Paul Ratha Yem said is much-needed and long overdue.

“This is exciting news and congratulations to CBA for receiving this grant to further their missions of providing affordable housing to the residents of Lowell, particularly in the Acre,” Yem, who represents the District 7 neighborhood, said by phone on Wednesday. “Our time has come.”

The award comes just months before Choi steps down this June after nearly 10 years of leading CBA, but she feels like the award strengthens the nonprofit’s housing mission to meet the needs of current and future residents of Lowell.

“This award didn’t just give funding to CBA, it is a gift to the city of Lowell,” Choi said.

More information on the Yield Giving Open Call and other initiatives can be found at leverforchange.org.