Your Co-op Dollars Working in Your Local Community
added 05/27/09
The Co-op delivers $100,000 loan to the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund.
It has been said that when people join and shop at their local food cooperative they keep more of their money working for their local community. That sentiment rang out loud and clear on May 15, 2009, as the Hanover Cooperative Community Fund presented $100,000 in loan support to the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund.
The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund was founded in 1983 with the belief that low-income people could build equity in their home and achieve long-term economic stability if they could be connected to institutions and people with capital resources and the willingness to share them. NHCLF is best known for lending residents of manufactured home parks the money needed to buy the land that makes up their community. These fixed-rate loans are vital to creating resident-owned communities which result in economic stability and self-determination for families around New Hampshire.
Steve Varnum is Communications Director at the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. He explained the traditional challenges faced by owners of manufactured homes. “If you don’t own the land under your home, you can’t build equity.” And many banks frequently only offer adjustable-rate mortgages to these homeowners. “We seek to change that,” stated Varnum. By offering fixed rate loans, technical assistance, and development expertise, the Community Loan Fund has been involved with the creation of 92 resident-owned communities in New Hampshire. These efforts have benefitted more than 5,000 New Hampshire families. Resident-owned parks in the Upper Valley region include five in the Charlestown/Claremont area, the Plainfield Village Cooperative Park, and the Mascoma Meadows Cooperative in Lebanon, which was purchased by residents in June of 2008.
Hanover Co-op board president, Donald Kreis, finds the work of the Community Loan Fund a perfect match for the cooperative business model. “New Hampshire desperately needs more affordable housing, and cooperatives are clearly a big part of the answer. It is a real honor for our food co-op is able to help these emerging housing co-ops.” Co-op General Manager Terry Appleby added, “Shopping locally has many benefits. We try to use the economic strength of our co-op to help others — an investment like this is at the core of what cooperatives do.”
The source for this $100,000 loan—the Hanover Cooperative Community Fund -—is a nonprofit, charitable foundation established by the Hanover Co-op’s board of directors in 2001. Contributions to this fund have come from profits of the Hanover Co-op and from donations made by Hanover Co-op members. The HCCF’s endowment now totals over $250,000. Investments are managed by Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation. Since 1964, Twin Pines has administered over $2.5 million dollars in grant programs going toward the development of many types of cooperatives.
In the 26 years since its founding, the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund has proven to be a very sound investment; it has never failed to repay a lender. It is also worth noting that more than 70 percent of lenders to the NHCLF are individuals. These regular folks recognize the power of community investments, and their support has had a huge impact on the fund’s success. Since 1984, the Community Loan Fund has made more than 1,400 loans totaling more than $100 million that have resulted in $348 million in economic impact around the state. NHCLF’s other programs include support for community facilities like childcare and legal services as well as economic opportunities through MicroCredit-NH and other efforts. The Hanover Co-op is pleased to add to the good work of these citizen investors.
Investments made by Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation on behalf of Hanover Cooperative Community Fund earn interest which funds gifts to local non-profit organizations. Repayments of principle by organizations like the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund will go right back to work as new loans to other cooperative organizations in need of support.
