Capital campaign to launch new hub for inclusive entrepreneurship in final mile with $2 Million from JPMorgan Chase

Washington, D.C. (April 13, 2023) – Wacif today announced a $2 million award in catalytic new funding to reimagine the Anacostia Arts Center as the region’s largest hub for inclusive entrepreneurship, advancing the project into the final mile of philanthropic fundraising. JPMorgan Chase – a longtime strategic partner in Wacif’s mission of equity and economic opportunity – selected Wacif and its campaign to reimagine the Anacostia Arts Center, building on years of a successful partnership between the organizations.

“By 2030, Wacif is committed to investing $100 million in our communities and reaching 5,000 underserved entrepreneurs with advisory services, ultimately helping those entrepreneurs create or retain 100,000 local jobs,” said Wacif CEO Harold B. Pettigrew, Jr. “Redeveloping the Anacostia Arts Center as the region’s largest hub for inclusive entrepreneurship, while honoring its importance as a community and creative economy asset, is central to that vision. We are grateful for JPMorgan Chase’s sustained partnership in our mission, their support for this project, and the momentum that provides as we enter the final mile of fundraising.”

Wacif has mobilized an array of public, private, and philanthropic partners to financially support the project and, in the days ahead, will announce additional strategic partnership. With a total project cost of approximately $37 million, Wacif will leverage financing through the New Market Tax Credit Program, and industrial revenue bonds, as it closes on the final mile of $4 million in philanthropic funding needed to move into the construction phase of the project. Financial supporters of the capital campaign include: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation, the Meyer Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, Principal Foundation, the D.C. Commission for the Arts and Humanities, the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development, Truist, and the Yelp! Foundation.

Redeveloping the Anacostia Arts Center is one example of Wacif’s success in scaling the organization’s impact. In the last five years, Wacif has deployed more than $50 million and helped local entrepreneurs create or retain more than 20,000 local jobs. The organization’s track record of performance also includes being named 2019 D.C. Nonprofit Organization of the Year by the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, winning the 2020 Citizenship Award from the Washington Business Journal, being identified in 2022 for the third time as one of the region’s best community nonprofits by the Catalogue for Philanthropy, and being highlighted in 2022 as the country’s #13 Best Nonprofit to Work For by the Nonprofit Times.

About the Washington Area Community Investment Fund

The Washington Area Community Investment Fund, Inc. (Wacif) is one of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) focused on small business development. Wacif’s mission is to increase equity and economic opportunity in underserved communities in the Washington, D.C. area by investing knowledge, social, and financial capital in low-and-moderate-income entrepreneurs. To learn more about becoming a financial partner in the redevelopment of the Anacostia Arts Center or Wacif’s mission of equity and opportunity more generally, please email Wacif’s Chief Development Officer Megan Carras at mcarras@wacif.org. To learn more about Wacif’s mission, visit www.wacif.org.