‘Small Dollars, Huge Impact’

Thanks to strong relationships and a shared mission to serve the community, Regions helps an inspiring construction project get off the ground.

By Candace Higginbotham | July 11, 2024

At Regions, strong relationships are part of the core business strategy.

Sometimes those relationships can save the day – or in one case, save a $6.4 million project and the educational future of hundreds of preschool children in St. Louis.

“Regions knows us, and they understand our local community,” said Stephen Westbrooks, executive director of IFF, Southern Region. “They have the lending capability, but more importantly, because of our relationship and history, we called on them to help out in a critical situation – and they really came through.”

The bank is well known for its wide-ranging offerings of products and services delivered with innovative technology, but the person-to-person connections and day-to-day interactions are what build trust and understanding with customers, clients and communities.

One of those clients is IFF, the largest Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI, in the Midwest serving nine states. The organization focuses on providing lending and services for human service agencies, schools, childcare providers, community health centers, housing developers, grocery stores and other community development initiatives.

Regions began a lending relationship with IFF in 2022 through the Regions Community Development Corporation® (CDC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Regions Bank that serves as a catalyst in revitalizing communities and improving lives by providing financing for projects, initiatives and organizations that serve community development purposes. This includes loans and investments for programs that are economically viable but may not qualify for conventional commercial bank underwriting.

Since then, the Regions CDC has expanded the IFF lending relationship to $10 million, which IFF has used to deploy loans to numerous organizations across multiple states. In addition, IFF and the Regions CDC have continued to expand the collaboration by referring suitable transactions between the two organizations.

The Regions CDC has expanded the IFF lending relationship to $10 million.

IFF has a longstanding relationship with Urban Sprouts Child Development Center, a well-known nonprofit in St. Louis that provides high-quality, early childhood education for low- and moderate-income families. The two organizations collaborated recently to plan and generate funding for a much-needed expansion.

“Urban Sprouts currently has a waiting list of over 400 children,” said Ellicia Lanier, CEO of the nonprofit. “This renovation will allow us to expand our licensed capacity by 52 slots. Additionally, we’ll be able to dive deeper in providing wraparound services for our families by creating a support-services space in one of our new buildings.”

IFF had worked with Urban Sprouts on their existing facility, and in 2022 began consulting with Lanier and her staff on a feasibility study and securing grant dollars to fund the expansion. Everything was going along fine; the funding was pledged, and demo was scheduled. Then Westbrooks got a dreaded phone call.

“The morning that construction was set to begin, the City of St. Louis Water Division began an infrastructure repair project adjacent to the Urban Sprouts building site,” Westbrooks said. “Their equipment was on the property, and we couldn’t begin the demo until that work was finished.”

This wasn’t just an inconvenient construction delay. The terms of Urban Sprouts’ funding agreements dictated that dollars would not become available until demo had actually begun.

“It was the worst possible timing,” Westbrooks said. “We had contractors that needed to be paid and other expenses to be met, but our funding was held up until we started construction, and that timeline was now dependent on the city’s repair work.”

Because of IFF’s existing relationship and history with Regions, Westbrooks didn’t hesitate to reach out to see if the bank could help. Eric Madkins, Regions Community Development manager based in St. Louis; Drew Gress, local Government and Institutional banker; and David Christian, chief operating officer of Regions CDC, quickly worked with other Regions executives and came up with a plan.

“We were able to secure a $100,000 line of credit for IFF and Urban Sprouts through the Regions CDC to support the renovation project until the repair work was complete, construction could begin and investment dollars started flowing,” Madkins said. “It was a small-dollar loan that made a huge impact.”

Westbrooks agreed, saying, “The Regions CDC provided a critical piece of the puzzle to get this project off the ground. Because Regions knows us and has made investments with us in the past, we didn’t have to bring them up to speed on who we are and the type of work we’re doing in the community. We didn’t have to start from square one, which saved the entire project. Speed was critical in this situation.”

“This is what relationship banking is all about, and it’s what the Regions CDC is all about,” said Christian. “I’m so pleased that we could bring these community partners and Regions teams together to find a lending solution that will benefit the children in the St. Louis community.”

Urban Sprouts is more than just a standard daycare or preschool. They follow the Reggio Emilia Approach®, an educational philosophy where children have the right and the ability to construct their own learning with the support and participation of teachers and parents.

“Through Reggio-inspired education, we cultivate a lifelong love of learning and a confident, compassionate, and curious spirit in every child we serve,” Lanier said. “This seed, this investment of love and learning, is what we believe will help each child, regardless of their identities or backgrounds, shape our collective future into something hopeful and bright as they grow into engaged citizens.”

Lanier said that economists and researchers have estimated that investing $1 in high-quality early learning programs that serve poverty- and racism-impacted children, like Urban Sprouts, has a return on investment of $7 to $12 worth of societal good.

“This is because the nutrition, skill-building, learning, creativity, and love poured into each child spreads like a golden pollen throughout their lifetime,” she said.

Lanier explained that the educational experience of these children extends to the broader community, resulting in less need for ongoing special education, welfare, and state- and federal-funded healthcare. It can also lower crime and incarceration rates.

The renovation and enhancements for Urban Sprouts that were funded and scheduled – and then jumpstarted by Regions – will provide health resources for children and families, nutrition education and support, parenting support and financial education programs.

Another addition is an innovative program that Lanier and the Urban Sprouts staff is very excited about.

“We are launching the Cafe O’ Play, which is a coffee shop that parents and community members can visit in the morning. Then, in the afternoons it transforms into an afterschool program space where the children will work with our chef to create meals for families that qualify for free and reduced lunch to be able to come and have dinner with their families at no cost.”

Madkins said that he’s proud the Regions CDC was able to move quickly to bridge a gap and fill a unique need for the St. Louis community.

“Every child deserves a high-quality education, no matter what zip code they live in,” Madkins said. “This deal highlights the many ways Regions teams can lock arms with community partners to support education and other needs in our communities.”