On November 25th, the City of Columbus and community partners announced the details of The 614 for Linden, a collaborative to advance the One Linden Community plan. The collaborative is named for six nonprofits partnering with four community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to have a positive and significant impact on one neighborhood. Its mission is to create and preserve affordable housing and commercial development, provide access to capital for small businesses, and offer health services to residents.
The 614 for Linden represents a $125 million investment into the Linden neighborhood to address four of the 10 Big Ideas that were introduced in the City of Columbus’ One Linden Community Plan last year. The collaborative recently received a $5 million investment as a national winner of JPMorgan Chase’s Partnerships for Raising Opportunity in Neighborhoods (PRO Neighborhoods) initiative.
PRO Neighborhoods aims to spark collaboration among community organizations to tackle some of the toughest neighborhood challenges. Columbus is one of only seven winning submissions in this year’s national PRO Neighborhoods competition. Overall, JPMorgan Chase received 75 applications covering 49 U.S. cities to support capital and planning projects.
The 614 for Linden will seek to:
Preserve approximately 500 affordable housing units through acquisition, rehabilitation, and financing. These units will be for individuals and families who earn less than 80% of the area median income.
Provide rapid rehousing services for up to 200 individuals and families currently experiencing or on the brink of homelessness.
Offer consulting and other assistance to small businesses, including microloans to local entrepreneurs seeking to start or expand an operation.
Focus on “wraparound’ health services, particularly prenatal and maternal programs, and devote funds to the creation or attraction of a business to provide healthy food access.
The six nonprofits supporting The 614 for Linden include Saint Stephen’s Community House, Community Development for All People, Healthy Neighborhoods Healthy Families, The Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio, Community Shelter Board, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
Greater Ohio Policy is proud to serve as the external project evaluator of this grant. JPMorgan Chase requires all PRO Neighborhoods grantees to track progress and evaluate its impact. GOPC will be working closely with the 614 organizations to maintain a clear-eyed understanding of their work and outcomes. GOPC is also the external project evaluator for another major JPMorgan Chase award in Ohio, the OH3C Collaborative.