FirstPathway Community Development LLC has been awarded $25 million in New Markets Tax Credits through the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
It is the first time the organization has applied for the tax credits. FirstPathway Community Development is controlled by Milwaukee-based FirstPathway Partners, which operates an EB-5 regional center in the Midwest.
The EB-5 program allows foreign investors and certain family members to apply for a green card if they make certain investments in U.S. businesses and create or preserve jobs.
The organization plans to use the credits to fund operating businesses in Wisconsin and Illinois that seek to expand or retain jobs in blighted, low-income neighborhoods with high unemployment. FPCD is currently seeking project applicants and noted several FirstPathway Partners projects have used NMTC as a funding source.
“FirstPathway Partners prides itself on the work we’ve done using the EB-5 program to make valuable investments in Wisconsin and Illinois. We are pleased that the CDFI Fund recognizes our capacity and success, and has created the opportunity for us to bring our knowledge and talent in serving distressed communities to an even higher level by adding NMTCs to our tool kit,” said Robert Kraft, FirstPathway Partners chairman and chief executive officer.
FPCD was among the 120 organizations receiving $7 billion in awards in the most recent NMTC round. There were a total of 238 applicants for the credits.
Other Wisconsin organizations receiving credits included West Allis-based First-Ring Industrial Redevelopment Enterprise, which received $45 million in tax credits and Madison-based Organizations Greater Wisconsin Opportunities Fund, Inc. and Forward Community Investments Inc. Those organizations got $75 million and $35 million respectively. The Greater Wisconsin Opportunities Fund Inc. is the community development entity of the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA).
