Real Returns - CIC's Investor Newsletter

Farewell to Taft West, Woodlawn updates, and more!

March 2017

Real Returns: CIC's Investor Newsletter

Farewell to Taft West

CIC's longtime Director of Property Management Training, Taft West, retired on February 28. Having trained thousands of property investors and managers, Taft is one of the most recognizable faces of CIC. Taft first joined CIC in 2002 as the deputy director of the program and was named Director of Property Management Training in 2007. Thanks to his hard work, the Property Management Training program has trained more than 17,000 current and prospective property managers.

On January 26, Taft was honored by the Dearborn Realtist Board with its President's Special Recognition Award (shown right). The award was presented at the organization's 75th anniversary gala.

Taft will be missed in the CIC offices, but he will still contribute to Property Management Training workshops as a guest lecturer. Jessica Sivels has joined CIC as Director of Property Management Training. Jessica has worked for the American Bar Association, Jenner & Block, LLC, the Chicago Association of REALTORS®, and the Chicagoland Apartment Association. She will work to expand upon Taft's successful program and continue to carry out CIC's commitment to Property Management Training.

CIC in the Community: Woodlawn

Curbed Chicago, a real estate blog, took an in depth look at community development efforts in Woodlawn. The article highlights ongoing development efforts and examines the surge in activity following the announcement of the Barack Obama Presidential Library site on the western edge of Jackson Park. According to Curbed, "It's the latest in a series of developments that have made Woodlawn an up-and-coming destination. Real estate brokerage Redfin just named it one of the city's hottest neighborhoods for 2017, and Curbed readers voted it the best neighborhood of 2016."

CIC has long focused on revitalizing Woodlawn and is supporting several community development programs in the community, in addition to having more than $13 million currently invested in Woodlawn through the multifamily loan program. Since 2012, CIC has coordinated redevelopment efforts in West Woodlawn for the City of Chicago's Micro Market Recovery Program. Under MMRP, 111 vacant buildings with 507 units have been rehabbed and reoccupied in West Woodlawn. W ith Neighborhood Housing Services and Preservation of Affordable Housing (POAH), CIC is also a partner in Renew Woodlawn, an effort to expand new homeownership in Woodlawn. CIC's role is to acquire distressed single family and two-flat properties to provide a pipeline for the program. Since the start of Renew Woodlawn in January 2016, CIC has acquired 23 properties, 10 of which have been sold for rehabilitation and occupancy by new homeowners.

For an overview of CIC's activities in Woodlawn between 2005 and 2015, view our Community Impact report on Woodlawn.

Community Business Academy Cohort Graduates

The first cohort of CIC's new Community Business Academy graduated on January 19. C IC and Sunshine Enterprises partnered to offer the Community Business Academy, which is targeted at property developers and managers ready to grow and strengthen their businesses. CBA takes new investors beyond the basics of property management to help them lay the foundation for long-term business development.

All twelve participants in the first cohort completed the 12-week program. The next CBA course for property developers will be offered in Fall 2017. Wells Fargo's Diverse Community Capital program provided financial support for development and operation of this three-year program.

About CIC

Since 1984, CIC has provided more than $1.2 billion to acquire, rehab and preserve 58,000 units of affordable housing for more than 145,000 metro Chicago residents. A recipient of the MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, CIC programs also include Energy Savers, the Troubled Buildings Initiative, The Preservation Compact and Property Management Training. For more information, visit cicchicago.com .