Social Impact
CCLF is often the first lender to finance a compelling community development project, making a critical difference in whether it moves forward—or not. Our energy and patience allow us to champion challenging, but high-impact projects. Typically, our early loans pave the way for additional financing from other lenders and funders.
Since its founding in 1991, CCLF has grown from an initial investment of $200,000 to more than $200 million in assets. The impact of that investment has resulted in:
Loans
In Total Financing
Total Leveraged
A Record of Growth and Results
Units in Housing
Jobs
Square feet of commercial retail / community facility space
In FY 2025, CCLF Closed 25 Loans Totaling $34,501,171 which leveraged an additional $59.4 Million.
Client Stories
Emmanuel House
Rick Guzman and his wife founded Emmanuel House in Aurora in 2002, initially helping refugees resettle and build wealth. Since then Emmanuel House has expanded, trying to break the trap of working-class poverty by helping working-class people in Chicagoland secure a home. The organization accomplishes this through its Networked Savings program, which puts rent payments […]
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Stony Island Arts Bank
Since 2009, Gates has been a recognized name in artist communities all over the world. The Wall Street Journal named him their Innovator of the Year in 2012. In 2012, he acquired an old bank building in Chicago’s South Shore community that had been abandoned and vacant for the last 30 years. He envisioned the […]
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The Plant
CCLF provided a $540,000 equipment/working capital loan for The Plant, an abandoned meatpacking plant in Chicago’s Back of the Yard’s neighborhood being converted into a net-zero energy vertical farm and food business operation. CCLF’s loan helped The Plant purchase an anaerobic digester and combined heat and power turbines to achieve its net-zero goal.
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