As a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) we are a mission-driven nonprofit that provides loans and services to small contractors, developers, and businesses that are underserved by traditional banks. Rise CDFI serves St. Louis City and St. Louis County in Missouri, as well as Madison County and St. Clair County in Illinois.

Rise CDFI is launching at a time when the need for flexible, responsive capital in the St. Louis community development sector has never been greater. Rise CDFI supports Rise Community Development’s existing work in some of the region’s most disinvested communities where appraisal gaps prevent traditional lenders from doing business, and a lack of coordinated community-driven plans and investment strategies have perpetuated inefficient and insufficient development.

Rise has developed its CDFI business plan to respond to a market study noting significant lack of capital for small real estate developers, especially those working north of Delmar, the city’s racial dividing line. With a focus on two primary business lines, the Minority Contractor Loan Fund and the Neighborhood Developer Loan Fund, Rise CDFI can respond to the social and economic challenges borne out by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the Calls to Action in the Ferguson Commission report, namely to help build wealth in Black communities.