Amongst our 104 Field Catalyst and Fulcrum Fellowship participants and alumni, leaders are experimenting with bold ideas in pursuit of systems change. In a new series of interviews with some of our alumni, we will look closely at what this work can look like, and how it’s playing out on the ground. Last month, we highlighted Damon Burns and his work to develop climate-resilient affordable housing in New Orleans .
This month, we spoke with Fulcrum Fellow and Field Catalyst alumna Ja’Net Defell, President and CEO of Community Desk Chicago, about the Desk’s work to create pathways for Black and brown entrepreneurs to own and control commercial real estate, preventing displacement in historically Black Chicago neighborhoods. The Desk is executing a multipronged strategy—supporting acquisition of commercial real estate, offering technical coaching, and supporting residents and local leaders—to build stability, keep wealth in the community, and get ahead of displacement.
Building Wealth While Revitalizing Commercial Corridors in Under-Resourced Neighborhoods: An Interview with Ja’Net Defell, president and CEO of Community Desk Chicago
Tell me about Community Desk Chicago. What is its vision for neighborhoods in Chicago and their residents?
We support nonprofits, entrepreneurs, and small community developers with real estate projects that do one of two things: have a direct impact on community wealth building and generational wealth, or bring new products and services and experiences to communities that are typically under-resourced. In under-resourced neighborhoods, which are generally Black and Latine communities, there are affordable housing projects, there are medical clinics, there are charter schools. But when you start to talk about bakeries and pet stores, the typical products and services that you see in other communities—you generally don’t get funding for those projects because there’s a perception that these neighborhoods can’t sustain it.
It sounds like you’re approaching the idea of building wealth from an unusual angle.
Yes. The commercial assets in under-resourced neighborhoods are generally not owned by the people that live there. The Brookings Institute did a study a few years ago showing that only three percent of Black households are generating wealth from commercial real estate. Our goal is to shift those power dynamics to allow for more direct ownership of commercial properties in neighborhoods. If communities have direct ownership, they can control the experience on the street. Right now, they’re at the mercy of, in most cases, extractive landlords. Their focus is profit and not improving the quality of life for residents.
I’d like to hear about three aspects of the Desk’s work toward that end: CorridorLive!, Community Investment Vehicles, and the role of the Desk behind it all.
CorridorLive! is a corridor redevelopment strategy that we are piloting in South Shore, which is one of the Chicago south side neighborhoods surrounding the Obama Presidential Center. This is an example of where we can be pro-active with the community to improve current conditions while capturing potential tourism dollars. Too often communities are locked out of wealth building opportunities such as this one.
Our strategy is designed to work authentically with our local partners. The South Shore Chamber CDC is the lead economic development agency in that community, and all our work in South Shore flows through it. In partnership with [executive director] Tonya Trice, we are organizing and assembling the properties along 71st Street to change the ownership there.
As part of CorridorLive!, we create an implementation plan. Its components include targeted properties for acquisition, proposed uses, and other key elements to create a healthy corridor. CorridorLive! is our framework, and we help them roll it out in their district. As the local development agency, Tonya Trice manages the pipeline of small businesses including retailers, artisans, etc. that are excited about the opportunity to activate a vacant storefront. Corridor Live! is intended to gain control of vacant and blighted buildings and support an orchestrated effort to get these entrepreneurs, who may not be able to do it without us, into these spaces. It will also create the right experience for the corridor that benefits the entire community.
Tell me more about Community Investment Vehicles and the Desk’s back-office function that supports them.
It’s very difficult for Black entrepreneurs and local community groups to own commercial property because of the high barriers to entry— traditional lenders require at least 35% in equity to secure a loan. And there is this sense of frustration. Community planning dollars are often available but there’s never sufficient capital to execute on those plans. The biggest challenge that we see with community development projects — and this has been going on for decades — is that it’s very difficult to get all the money in one pot. Projects bounce from lenders to philanthropy to government agencies trying to assemble funding for the project.
We are working with neighborhoods in Chicago to build out Community Investment Vehicles (CIVs). CIVs allow people in under-resourced communities to pool their financial resources to collectively buy property on a commercial corridor. The Desk produced the Community Investment Vehicle Playbook, which is a collection of all the models that we looked at. It was a way for us to be able to give a road map for things to consider when you’re thinking about doing this as a community.
The back-office function that we are working to design will help defray the cost of implementing a CIV and managing that portfolio of investments. Managing investments including compliance requirements is complicated. We want to defray costs but also help ensure there is the infrastructure in place to manage the CIVs long-term. The shared back office will be available citywide to neighborhoods – bringing the right skillsets to maintain confidence from funders and investors that the model is sustainable. It’s a shared service model that will support investment management for the community investment vehicles.
How has this work changed you?
Launching a nonprofit helped me really understand the amount of work that it takes to deliver with a small organization—and that’s common for our nonprofit organizations in community. I was fortune to launch with the necessary resources to build a great team. However, I have developed a lot of appreciation for the infrastructure that it takes to really manage a small nonprofit and still do great work. It’s a lot. You have to wear many hats. You have to be super creative.
What kind of challenges have you faced in launching the Community Desk and trying to move things forward?
The biggest challenge is getting funders to think big and bold, and to trust the process. It’s very difficult to get funders and city leaders to get behind letting community people own all these commercial properties, and to trust that this is going to work. For too long, we have assumed that communities lack the wherewithal to lead the work in their neighborhoods. Not true. They just need the resources both technical and capital to advance the work. That’s part of systems change–you’re asking people to do things differently.
For example, municipal organizations fund project by project – it’s how it’s always been done. We need to get them to strategically partner with philanthropy and lenders, to work in one targeted area. Working collectively, risk is managed across all the partners. You know, systems change is hard. At some points I’ve wanted to say, “Don’t you get it? Don’t you see it? The opportunity is right there.”
