Catch up with the latest from REDF Impact Investing Fund now!
Two New Loans Close Under Growth and Mobility Fund
Conservation Corps North Bay (CCNB), a longtime REDF partner, is the second borrower under our new Growth & Mobility Fund — a next-gen financing tool backing social enterprises that are growing quality jobs.
Based in Marin and Sonoma Counties, CCNB is the nation’s oldest local nonprofit youth conservation corps, providing young adults with paid training, education, and leadership in environmental work.
A $450,000 bridge loan from RIIF will help CCNB complete construction of its Santa Rosa facility while awaiting grant reimbursements. The expanded site will fuel CCNB’s Zero Waste operations, open new contract opportunities, and create more paid job training pathways for opportunity youth in Sonoma County.
In its third under the Growth & Mobility Fund, RIIF also recently closed a $450,000 acquisition loan with L.E.N., a staffing firm that has spent 30+ years helping people find meaningful work in Bay Area affordable housing communities.
By providing living-wage jobs and training, L.E.N. helps individuals overcome barriers to employment and build lasting careers.
This loan supports the transition of L.E.N. to two tenacious leaders in the employment social enterprise world, Gregory Nottage (former Executive Director, Streets Team Enterprises) and Romie Nottage (former SVP, Community Forward SF). They’re working to create more pathways for individuals that have been justice-impacted and are unhoused while reinforcing a staffing model vital to affordable housing.
New Quality Jobs Framework
As we work to help organizations build economic power for their employees, we understand that a key element in that step is job quality. How can we ensure that the jobs we create are the ones that help people build the futures they want?
Over on our blog, RIIF’s own Riya Annamraju penned a two-part series about job quality. In it, she lays out what we believe are the 7 core components of a quality job, and shares the latest on our efforts to advance job quality, like our brand-new Quality Job Offerings Assessment.
Catch RIIF on the Road!
This fall, RIIF is hitting the road!
RIIF team members will be participating in the following conferences across the US, both as attendees and speakers:
- Neighborhood Economics, September 29-October 1Â (Chicago, IL)
- OFN National Conference, October 20-23Â (Washington, DC)
- Tuesday, October 21, 11 a.m. EST: RIIF’s Emilie Linick and Karina Vadillo will co-present alongside Low Income Investment Fund (LIIF) on a panel about CDFI staff retention!
- National Reentry Workforce Collaborative, October 22-24Â (Pittsburgh, PA)
- REDF is hosting a panel featuring lived experience social enterprise leaders
