View snapshots of the types of programs funded by clicking on the category title.

Real Estate Initiatives foster both ownership and leadership opportunities for low-income people. They may be for housing, business, commercial, or industrial uses. Legal structures, like community land trusts or limited equity cooperatives, are used to balance asset ownership and ongoing decision-making. Tenants often develop their own assets and participate in governance. The larger community benefits from a productive asset and enhanced civic participation. Typically, permanent affordability is maintained for future tenants and an organizational forum is built for a diverse group of community leaders.


Business Incubators and Marketplaces provide a facility and ongoing support for small business development. They bring low-income entrepreneurs into a peer group relationship for the purposes of developing and operating their businesses. The member-businesses may reflect the local culture of the respective community. All businesses benefit from shared services that create efficiency in both planning and operations. Incubator businesses work together until they have reached a level of stability that allows them to leave the facility. Marketplaces rely on peer support and may also incubate businesses, but here, the emphasis is on developing a growing base of customers in one shared location.

Community Development Financial Institutions, such as community development credit unions, loan funds, and community banks—commonly known as CDFIs—help low-income people, community-based organizations, and businesses by providing financing for community development. These organizations also often provide technical assistance to help borrowers prepare for loans and maintain their timely repayment.

Social Purpose and Training Businesses combine on-the-job training with the operation of a profit-making enterprise. These EDIs provide employees with good income and opportunities to develop assets. Their focus is on the development of a business that has an integral, on-the-job training component that may open up the possibility of placement in other mainstream businesses once workers have acquired certain skills. Community-based organizations that work with disadvantaged populations experiencing multiple barriers to employment may develop these businesses to promote participatory control and decision-making. 

Worker-Owned and Community-Owned Businesses have ownership and organizational structures that create both income and assets for low-income people. Ownership may be held by workers, a community-based organization, or in a form that combines both. Over the past ten years, most of the applications received by CCHD for this EDI type have focused on paraprofessional healthcare, child care, cleaning, and craft production. In recent years, an increasing number of applications have been presented for temporary employment businesses.