Sen. Gomez Announces Awards for Housing, Economic, and Community Development

BOSTON — State Sen. Adam Gómez joined the Healey-Driscoll administration to announce $875,000 in Community Investment Tax Credits (CITC) awards to four community development corporations (CDCs) and community service organizations (CSOs) in Springfield: Home City Development ($100,000), Revitalize CDC ($150,000), Way Finders ($375,000), and Wellspring Cooperative ($250,000).

The Affordable Homes Act, signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey last summer, increased the CITC from $12 million to $15 million and created a permanent funding source for the CITC program.

Since its inception in 2012, the CITC program has been an integral source of funding for CDCs and CSOs to support programming that includes affordable housing development and preservation, community planning and economic development initiatives, homeownership assistance, financial education, foreclosure prevention and savings programs, and job training and job creation programs.

“With the Healey-Driscoll administration leading the way on the issues closest to home for Massachusetts residents and the state Legislature operating in lockstep, CDCs and CSOs are positioned to enhance their critical programming,” Gomez said. “In the Hampden district and across the Commonwealth, these community organizations are being stripped of the tools they need to best serve low- and moderate-income families. This expansive funding reflects our state’s common-sense approach to policy solutions.”

The CITC program offers a 50% refundable state tax credit that provides an incentive for donors to contribute funds to CDCs and CSOs. The program enables residents and stakeholders to work with CDCs and partner with nonprofit, public, and private entities to improve economic opportunities for low- and moderate-income households and other residents in urban, rural, and suburban communities across the state. CDCs accomplish this through adoption of community investment plans to undertake community development programs, policies, and activities.