City Heights CDC Gets $1 Million Grant from New York’s Citi Foundation

As part of its Community Progress Makers Initiative — supporting organizations advancing affordable housing and access, economic development, financial health, and workforce readiness — the Citi Foundation has selected the City Heights Community Development Corporation to receive $1 million in unrestricted funding over three years.

City Heights CDC is one of nine Southern California nonprofits – and the only San Diego organization – selected as part of the fourth cohort of the Community Progress Makers initiative through an open request for proposals process. A collective $50 million – $1 million per organization – was committed to 50 community organizations nationwide. First launched in 2015, Community Progress Makers provides unrestricted funding to visionary organizations that work locally to connect low-income communities to greater economic opportunity.

According to Alexis Villanueva, president and CEO of City Heights CDC, unrestricted grants are a welcome and flexible source of funding for the organization. “We are so honored to be part of the Citi Foundation’s Community Progress Makers – this generous, unconditional funding enables us to accelerate our community-based work and continue to serve as a powerful resource and advocate for City Heights, a culturally diverse, underserved San Diego neighborhood.”

All grant recipients will have access to a learning community where they can collaborate and share best practices with a network of Community Progress Makers across the country, as well as receive technical assistance delivered by national experts and leading researchers. “By combining our local expertise and track record of community impact with a national network of resources and changemakers, City Heights CDC is well poised to make positive changes, especially in our core areas of economic development, affordable housing, and transportation and planning,” Villanueva said.

“In listening to our nonprofit grantees over the years about what’s going to make a difference for them, we doubled down on our funding support and the amount of time we’re dedicating to working with these organizations to scale their impact,” said Brandee McHale, President of the Citi Foundation and Head of Citi Community Investing & Development. “Through funding, collaboration, and technical assistance, we’re helping accelerate the innovation of visionary nonprofits with the hope of generating solutions that will drive lasting change for low-income communities.

The other Southern California organizations awarded funding from the Citi Foundation’s Community Progress Makers initiative include Central City Neighborhood Partners, Inclusive Action for the City, Neighborhood Partnership Housing Services, New Economics for Women, Orange County Community Housing Corporation, Pacific Asian Consortium in Employment, PCR Business Finance and Ventura County Community Development Corp.

For more information visit https://www.cityheightscdc.org/.