CDFI Fund Director Gambrell Celebrates Opening of New Workforce Readiness Center

$29 Million in Recovery Act New Markets Tax Credits Supports "Re-Birth" of Compton, California

Compton, CA  As part of an effort to highlight the local impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) awards made by the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), Director Donna J. Gambrell traveled today to Compton, California to celebrate the opening of the Junior Achievement Workforce Readiness Center. This new permanent community facility is part of 150,000 square feet of developed retail space in the Gateway Town Plaza which has created approximately 450 jobs for local residents. Utilizing an award made under the Recovery Act, Lake Forest-based Clearinghouse CDFI provided $29 million in New Markets Tax Credit permanent financing to prevent foreclosure on the project and allow construction to be completed.

The Junior Achievement Workforce Readiness Center will be a satellite office for Junior Achievement of Southern California and enable it to provide many of the successful programs and services offered in its acclaimed Finance Park in Los Angeles to the residents, schools and other non-profits community groups in the Compton area. Junior Achievement of Southern California is dedicated to educating students in grades K-12 about entrepreneurship, work readiness and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. The new Workforce Readiness Center will operate out of donated retail space, a condition of the financing made possible through New Markets Tax Credit.

"It is truly an honor to visit Junior Achievement's Workforce Readiness Center and see firsthand the tremendous positive impact the Gateway Towne Plaza is having on the re-birth of the City of Compton," said Director Gambrell. "This is a project that speaks to the economic recovery that is taking place in underserved communities across the country and the extraordinary transformational potential of the New Markets Tax Credit for these communities."

Permitting taxpayers to receive a credit against federal income taxes for making qualified equity investments in Community Development Entities, the New Markets Tax Credit promotes social investment in underserved communities.