SCORE Receives $65 Million New Markets Tax Credit Award

Southside Community Optimal Redevelopment Enterprise (SCORE) is pleased to announce it has been awarded $65 million in New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund during the 2015/2016 round of funding distribution. SCORE is a Community Development Entity (CDE) that provides capital to qualifying businesses and projects in highly distressed low-income areas marked by industrial flight in Illinois and Indiana. First funded in 2012, SCORE has received $105 million in NMTCs to date over three awards, this award being the largest.

SCORE’s controlling entity, McCaffery Interests (MI), was founded in 1990, with a mission of transforming urban neighborhoods in ways that inspire community, create opportunities and foster the ideals of smart growth. Through urban revitalization efforts McCaffery has completed and managed projects in excess of 20 million square feet and over $2 billion in value through its urban revitalization efforts. SCORE was created to further support the revitalization and development of distressed urban communities.

“SCORE exists to ensure that vital resources are available to support short and long-term job growth strategies in distressed neighborhoods. We are pleased that the CDFI Fund recognizes the value that SCORE has brought and will continue to bring to Indiana and Illinois communities,” said Angela Woolfolk, SCORE’s Executive Director. 

An equal opportunity provider, the mission of SCORE is to invest NMTCs in operating businesses, community facilities (education and healthcare) and fresh food anchored retail that will provide living wage jobs in the highly distressed low-income communities that have experienced a loss of skilled employment opportunities, growing levels of lower educational achievement, and a lack of adequate access to goods and services.  Past awards have supported dynamic projects such as Avondale’s Cermak Fresh Produce Market, Heartland Health Center in Rogers Park, and One Hope United in Joliet.

SCORE is currently accepting project applications on its website, SCORE-CDE.com, for distribution of available funds.

The NMTC Program attracts private capital into low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making investments on qualified projects within economically distressed communities. The credit totals 39 percent of the original investment amount and is claimed over a period of seven years.

Today’s awards bring the total amount awarded through the New Markets Tax Credit Program to $50.5 billion. Since 2001, NMTCs have generated more than $42 billion in investments in low-income communities and businesses, resulting in the creation or retention of more than 500,000 jobs, and the construction or rehabilitation of more than 164 million square feet of commercial real estate.