JPMorgan Chase Commits $5 Million to Detroit’s New $30 Million Strategic Neighborhood Fund

October 19, 2016 (Detroit, MI) – JPMorgan Chase & Co. today announced a $5 million investment toward the establishment of a $30 million Strategic Neighborhood Fund to drive inclusive economic growth in Detroit’s neighborhoods. The fund will support the Detroit Strategic Neighborhood Initiative, which is a priority for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and is a collaborative partnership between Invest Detroit, the Detroit Development Fund and Opportunity Resource Fund. This initiative is dedicating critical resources towards commercial and residential real estate, jobs, and community infrastructure in several Detroit neighborhoods over the next decade.

“This announcement from JPMorgan Chase is another example of its deep commitment to Detroit and revitalizing its neighborhoods,” said Mayor Mike Duggan. “Thanks to this funding, we are going to start seeing new small businesses open, existing businesses expand and new residential developments take place in several key areas of the city. This fits in perfectly with our strategy to revitalize our neighborhoods.”

As part of JPMorgan Chase’s $125 million, five-year PRO Neighborhoods initiative in cities around the country, the firm’s $5 million grant will support this new collaborative and the revitalization of Detroit’s neighborhoods. PRO Neighborhoods helps create more widely shared prosperity by providing the necessary capital to local community development organizations to address the drivers of economic opportunity in neighborhoods. Overall, the Strategic Neighborhood Fund intends to raise a total of $30 million, and will initially target three neighborhoods over the next five years: West Village, Southwest Detroit and Livernois-McNichols.

Earlier this year, Mayor Duggan announced a concept to create a series of 20-minute walkable neighborhoods where residents would be able to enjoy all of the amenities of a vibrant urban lifestyle within a 20-minute walk or bike ride from home. The fund will help finance key multi-unit residential, business and mixed-use developments to add neighborhood density and tie in with major transportation lines and other essential services. The city recently matched its first infusion to the fund of $4 million from a grant from Reimagining the Civic Commons, a national initiative to revitalize and connect public spaces in urban areas, which will be dedicated to the Livernois-McNichols neighborhood.

“Thriving neighborhoods where every resident has the chance to get ahead are critical to Detroit’s long term economic success,” said Peter Scher, Head of Corporate Responsibility for JPMorgan Chase. “Under the Mayor’s leadership, partnerships like this one will help neighborhoods throughout the city overcome their biggest barriers to economic mobility.”
“Today’s investment is another example of the great work that is happening every day in Detroit,” said U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow. “These funds will help our small businesses grow, allow more families to buy a home, and revitalize more neighborhoods in the city.”

“Detroit’s success depends on our ability to work collaboratively with public, private and philanthropic partners to find innovative solutions that will fuel the city's continued revitalization,” said U.S. Senator Gary Peters. "I applaud this investment by JPMorgan Chase and their local partners that will create a microdistrict model which can be tailored throughout the city and serve as a catalyst for neighborhood redevelopment, stimulating small business economic growth and creating new jobs.”

Detroit’s Strategic Neighborhood Fund draws upon lessons from the ongoing revitalization of Detroit’s Downtown and Midtown and brings public, private, and philanthropic partners together in underserved Detroit neighborhoods that are at a tipping point in their revitalization—West Village, Southwest Detroit and Livernois-McNichols. The fund will develop twelve projects, four in each neighborhood, and will specifically focus on stabilizing real estate, creating jobs, providing more mixed-income housing, and improving infrastructure in the neighborhoods. This includes building new multi-family housing, establishing new places for businesses to thrive, new parks, and improved lighting of Detroit’s streets and sidewalks.

“JPMorgan Chase PRO Neighborhoods’ $5 million award provides a variety of financing resources to elevate core strengths in three distinct neighborhoods, while creating a development template to apply in additional neighborhoods,” said Dave Blaszkiewicz, president and CEO, Invest Detroit. “This major investment also significantly leverages the revitalization capacity of the $30 million Strategic Neighborhood Fund, recently launched by Invest Detroit in partnership with the City. We are extremely grateful to JPMorgan Chase for its commitment to our collaborative efforts to promote vibrant and sustainable Detroit neighborhoods.”

Innovative financial solutions like the ones created by this new fund help to revitalize neighborhoods by growing small businesses, offering non-traditional mortgage assistance, improving access to affordable housing and collecting better data to study changing neighborhood demographics.

Neighborhoods like West Village are uniquely positioned to become dynamic, walkable communities because of recent new market activity like new restaurants and retail stores opening in 2015, close proximity to the Riverwalk and Belle Isle Park, as well as the forthcoming Bike Share and Belt Line Greenway on the horizon next year. The West Village’s higher employment rates coupled with lower vacancy rates presents an impactful opportunity to add housing, improve public spaces and stabilize the historic neighborhood overall.

"Resolving economic issues in our neighborhoods requires participation and collaboration from all parties in the development ecosystem,” said Lauren Hood, Acting Director of Live6 Alliance. “Now that the city, philanthropic organizations and the private sector have come together to address these challenges, I'm hopeful that the impact will reach a broader range of residents over a more sustained period of time."

JPMorgan Chase’s PRO Neighborhoods initiative provides the necessary capital to local community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to address the drivers of economic opportunity in neighborhoods. These CDFIs work together to pool resources and expand lending activities for building health and education facilities, open retail centers and support community services in area neighborhoods.

About JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a leading global financial services firm with assets of $2.5 trillion and operations worldwide. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing, and asset management. A component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, JPMorgan Chase & Co. serves millions of consumers in the United States and many of the world's most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients under its J.P. Morgan and Chase brands. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at jpmorganchase.com.

Media Contacts:
Stephanie Bosh, JPMorgan Chase, 202.494.1860
Peter Van Dyke, Invest Detroit, 313.530.7882