The Gihekdagye Friendship Centre, an Indigenous social services organization, provides cultural and educational programming, health and wellness services, housing assistance and homelessness outreach from a building on Colborne Street in the city of Brantford, Ontario.
Keewaywin Capital, an Indigenous-led private credit manager in Toronto, and Vancity Community Investment Bank provided an undisclosed amount of financing to help the organization, known as BRISC for short, purchase the building where its services are provided.
The capital will give BRISC a permanent home and allow the organization to develop transitional housing at the site. “This investment allows us to put down permanent roots in the community we serve,” said Gihekdagye Friendship Centre’s Shelly Hill.
Inclusive communities
Keewaywin was launched in 2022 by Tracee Smith, a member of the Missanabie Cree First Nation, to improve access to financing for Indigenous communities. Its first fund closed last June at $20 million to finance Indigenous housing. Its investment in BRISC
“is about creating stability – not just for an organization, but for the community it serves,” Smith said in a statement. “We are helping unlock solutions that provide safety, dignity and long-term opportunity – things that don’t translate on a traditional loan or mortgage application.” Keewaywin is backed by Realize Capital, a wholesaler for Canada’s Social Finance Fund, as well as Addenda Capital, and the Tachane Foundation.
Ownership economy
A small number of investment firms are working to help small businesses, nonprofits and community services organizations buy the commercial properties where they operate to combat displacement or build assets and wealth.
North Carolina-based Partners in Equity helps small business owners in underserved communities buy the properties they’re based in. California-based Community Vision offers financing to community-based nonprofits and businesses to purchase land and develop real estate in low-income communities to combat gentrification.
