The Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) is a 33-year-old Community Development Financial Institution and 26 of those 33 years, it was led by Calvin L. Holmes.
After a long and successful career in community development, Calvin has decided to depart the house that he helped build.
The CCLF board has appointed Bob Tucker as its President, effective January 1, 2025. Tucker has been serving as CCLF’s Interim President since November 2022, when Holmes suffered an unanticipated and unfortunate health challenge. Holmes will continue working at CCLF through the end of 2024 and will stay engaged as an advisor in 2025.
Holmes joined CCLF as Loan Officer in April 1995 and was named Executive Director in June 1998, its second in the organization’s 33-year history. His leadership experience was enhanced early in his career at CCLF as he was a 2003 Leadership Greater Chicago fellow. Holmes also led CCLF to be one of eight organizations worldwide to receive a 2009 MacArthur Foundation Award for Creative and Effective Institutions.
CCLF was bestowed the 2014 Alford-Axelson Award for Non-profit Managerial Excellence and awarded a total of $25 million in unrestricted funds from two MacKenzie Scott grants in 2021 and 2024. During his tenure, CCLF has become one of the nation’s largest CDFIs serving a single metropolitan area. Holmes has led CCLF to originate more than $368 million in affordable loans, leveraging an additional $1.9 billion in public and private capital, supporting over 12,480 units of affordable housing, 13.2 million square feet of commercial retail and community facility space, and creating 7,735 jobs.
An industry leader, Holmes was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve as Chairman of the CDFI Fund Advisory Board (2013-2017); Vice Chairman of Opportunity Finance Network (2000–2009); and he is currently the Vice Chair of the African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs, which aims to leverage its members’ resources to reduce the racial wealth gap. He has served on numerous boards, task forces and committees over three decades which have garnered him many individual leadership awards. He also continues to serve on the boards of several additional national and local nonprofits focused on creating racial, social, and economic equity for under-resourced communities.
“For the past two years, I have been working jointly on my medical recovery and the important work of CCLF, but it’s time now to give my health 100% of my focus,” said Holmes. “Being CCLF’s President has truly been my life’s work, bringing me immense fulfillment, and I know that CCLF has an incredible team in place to carry-on our mission. As I transition into semi-retirement, I am thrilled that CCLF’s Board of Directors has chosen Bob Tucker as the next President. The board and I saw the ‘fire in his belly’ for CCLF’s mission when we hired him over nine years ago.”