Jobs Return to Oregon with NMTC Investment

Chicago, July 30, 2015 /3BL Media/ – National Community Investment Fund (NCIF) recently partnered with three additional Community Development Entities (CDEs) to provide $4 million of its own New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) funding and together $20 million in NMTCs to support international appetizer company, Fry Food Inc.’s expansion into rural and underserved Ontario, Oregon. The funding infusion into the family-owned and operated foodservice enterprise helps the company respond to increased demand in the west for its products, while also providing investment into a distressed community.

The community was hard-hit in 2012 when the Select Onion Company facility shut down, causing 240 people to lose their jobs and further contributing to the area’s depressed economy. ConAgra eventually acquired the shuttered facility and offered the processing space to Fry Foods for a discounted acquisition price. The opportunity came at a particularly useful time for Fry Foods as it had begun to outgrow its western facility in Idaho. For Fry Foods, this opportunity will help expand its supply chain and workforce needs into Ontario. The development aims to employ over 300 community members permanently, and to create 100 shorter-term construction jobs.

“NCIF has an underlying mission to help create real, transformative community change that pushes forward broader community development and social development goals,” said Saurabh Narain, NCIF President and CEO, “Fry Foods is a model project that helps us all to make that change.”

The NMTC program creates a tax-credit incentive for investors to connect with and invest in CDEs which then invest in the communities across the nation. The Fry Foods project benefitted from both the federal NMTC program and the State of Oregon NMTC program. Capital One Bank provided investment to facilitate the federal NMTC financing and served as a CDE. Wells Fargo provided investment to facilitate the state NMTC financing.  Four CDEs provided a portion of their allocation to the project including Ecotrust, Enhanced Community Development, NCIF and Capital One.

The project also received a $550,000 grant from Oregon’s Strategic Reserve Fund and an expansion of Business Oregon’s Enterprise Zone to include the site of the Fry Foods’ facility. Pacific Northwest CDFI, Craft3, joined the lending team of local Fry Foods supporters, providing a loan to the project.

With unemployment well above the state average and a poverty rate of 27 percent, the Ontario community will benefit from the new jobs, training opportunities and economic multipliers that will be generated by the Fry Foods project in the region. 

"Capital One is pleased to use the NMTC program to invest in the Ontario community,” said Albert Kropog, Senior Vice President with Capital One Bank.  “This investment should serve as a catalyst for change, spurring job creation and community revitalization."

“We were impressed with the collaborative effort of the whole NMTC team, particularly given that this was a unique Targeted Populations project. The NMTC program has proven effective for us in building relationships with CDEs, and ultimately effective for us in helping to build communities,” said Estelle Bartholow of Wells Fargo Community Lending and Investment.  

Learn more about Fry Foods expansion into Oregon here and about the CDFI Fund’s NMTC program here.

ABOUT NCIF
National Community Investment Fund is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit investment fund that invests in mission-oriented banks and other financial institutions in order to increase access to services and encourage economic development in LMI and underserved communities. NCIF is the largest investor in the mission-oriented banking industry, with investments in 15 percent of all certified CDFI Banks. NCIF has $228 million of assets under management, including $206 million in New Markets Tax Credit allocations. Additionally, NCIF creates innovative business opportunities and facilitates the flow of funds from mainstream, philanthropic, and socially responsible investors as well as public sources. As an impact investor, NCIF pursues a triple bottom line strategy that maximizes social, environmental, and financial returns.  Visit www.ncif.org.

ABOUT WELLS FARGO
Wells Fargo’s Community Lending and Investment division provides debt and equity capital for economic development, job creation and affordable housing in areas of need nationwide. For more about Wells Fargo Community Lending and Investment visit: www.wellsfargo.com/communitylendingandinvestment

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a nationwide, diversified, community-based financial services company with $1.7 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,700 locations, 12,500 ATMs, and the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 36 countries to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 266,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 30 on Fortune’s 2015 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy all our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells Fargo Stories.

ABOUT ENHANCED COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Enhanced Community Development’s controlling entity is Enhanced Capital. Headquartered in New York City, Enhanced Capital is a diversified private investment firm focused on established small and mid-sized companies overlooked by traditional sources of capital due to location or size. Since 2000, Enhanced Capital’s funds have financed businesses through a variety of state and federal public-private investment programs, including its federal SBIC fund. For more information, visit http://www.enhancedcapital.com.

ABOUT ECOTRUST CDE
Ecotrust CDE is a community development entity that directs New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) toward innovative initiatives across the Pacific Northwest that create economic, social and environmental benefit in rural and disadvantaged communities. Since 2005, Ecotrust CDE has received $202 million in NMTC allocations that it has used to finance projects seeking to build long-term community and environmental wealth, with special focus areas on supporting tribal communities, forestland restoration, and sustainable agriculture. Learn more at www.ecotrust.org

ABOUT CAPITAL ONE
Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., had $210.4 billion in deposits and $306.2 billion in total assets as of March 31, 2015. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has branches located primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “COF” and is included in the S&P 100 index.