Enterprise Bank & Trust announces the closing of a finance agreement that will support a $21 million construction project which is part of a $25 million philanthropic expansion campaign for Child Crisis Arizona. The agency provides emergency shelter, foster care, adoption, counseling, early education, and parenting support services to Arizona’s most vulnerable children, youth and families. Child Crisis will use the financing to construct a new 38,000-square-foot facility on recently acquired property adjacent to the organization’s current property in Mesa. This project aims to be one of the first fully sustainable nonprofit buildings in Arizona.

To facilitate this deal, Enterprise allocated $10 million of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) allocation, while the Phoenix Community Development & Investment Corporation’s (PCDIC) provided another $15 million. In addition to the allocation of the NMTC funds, Enterprise will provide source and direct loans.

Enterprise Financial CDE, LLC (EFCDE), the subsidiary of Enterprise Financial Services Corp (NASDAQ: EFSC), provides NMTC allocations critical to the financing of development projects like this one for qualified businesses located in low-income and underserved communities.

The new building is part of a three year Fostering Bright Futures philanthropic expansion campaign. To date, almost $17 million has been raised toward the effort. The increased square footage will support a new service campus, entitled The Center for Child & Family Wellness. This expansion will allow Child Crisis Arizona to provide more services critical to their current program clients as well as the surrounding low-income community. The new campus will house Child Crisis Arizona programs (Foster Care and Adoption, Counseling, Family Education, and more) and administrative staff. Additionally, the increased space will allow to expand offerings, many in collaboration with other local organizations, to provide services such as basic needs items distribution, food preparation for programs, medical screenings, therapeutic dance and art classes, job skills and mentoring for foster teens, and more.

“Enterprise has developed strong ties to Child Crisis Arizona over the years, and our involvement in the funding for this project allows us to deepen that relationship,” said Kelli Tonkin, SVP, Treasury Management Regional Manager for Enterprise in Phoenix. “This is a wonderful opportunity to improve our local community from a social services perspective and support the organization’s mission to provide children and youth in Arizona a safe environment, free from abuse and neglect, by creating strong and successful families.”

For nearly five decades, Child Crisis Arizona has helped the local community’s most vulnerable children, youth and families through prevention, intervention and education programs designed to support thousands of at-risk individuals. All work centers on a vision of safe environments for all kids and strong families.

The City of Mesa was recently found to be among the municipalities with the highest increase in childhood poverty. In the area surrounding the family services campus, nearly 40% of children under age five live in poverty.   Child Crisis Arizona’s services to include partnerships with United Food Bank, Ballet Arizona, Free Arts for Abused Children & Big Brothers, Big Sisters

The new campus will increase offerings of:

• Daily food distribution — children (daily) and families (weekly).
• Counseling for children & youth
• Foster care and adoption services.
• Parent education classes, Safe Kids Maricopa
• Volunteer and donor opportunities.
• Community space for collaborations with other nonprofit organizations.

“This campus will offer additional program space for both Child Crisis Arizona and partner organizations to provide transformational, multi-generational programs focused on impact for underserved children, youth and families. Establishing a new campus will centralize Child Crisis Arizona operations and leverage synergies with partner organizations to offer high quality wraparound services in one convenient location” said Torrie Taj, CEO of Child Crisis Arizona.

“NMTC projects have become essential to advancing meaningful projects in historically underserved communities,” said Jeff Friesen, President, Southwest Region, at Enterprise Bank & Trust and current Chair of the Child Crisis Arizona Board of Directors. “I’ve seen firsthand the impact Child Crisis Arizona has on thousands of individuals each year. There was an identified need to increase capacity, and Enterprise is delighted to help provide the financial tools needed to make this vision a reality.”