The New Economy Loan Fund invests in NYC’s growing cooperative economy.
The New Economy Loan Fund makes no- and low-interest, flexible loans to support worker cooperatives, community land trusts, community solar projects, and other community wealth building initiatives in New York City. The fund is an emerging community development financial institution (CDFI) and affiliate of New Economy Project.
The fund has loaned more than $2.6 million to initiatives that promote economic cooperation and expand access to living wage jobs, deeply and permanently affordable housing, community and cultural spaces, and other critical needs. We collaborate with mission-aligned lenders to strategically fill financing gaps and bring more capital into NYC’s cooperative ecosystem. Download a two-page overview of the loan fund.
If your organization is interested in applying for a loan, please complete our online intake form.
Want to support this work? Contact us to discuss how you can get involved.
The loan fund supports:
- Worker cooperatives, to give workers shared ownership and control of their workplaces and expand access to dignified, living wage jobs;
- Community land trusts, to bring land into community ownership and expand permanently affordable, resident-controlled housing and neighborhood development;
- Community solar projects and other renewable energy infrastructure in frontline communities; and
- Other initiatives that foster democratic ownership and control.
For more information, or to request assistance in another language, please contact us at loanfund@neweconomyproject.org.
New Economy Project has a track record co-designing loan funds with community partners to advance economic, racial, and gender justice.
We previously operated:
- NYC DREAMer Loan Fund, which provided 0% interest loans and rapid-response grants to nearly 1,000 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) applicants in NYC. We operated the program in partnership with community and legal services groups and two community development credit unions from 2012 to 2017.
- NYC Foreclosure Prevention Gap Loan Fund, which helped hundreds of low income New Yorkers avert foreclosure and preserve over $20 million in home equity, between 2008 and 2013. New Economy Project worked with NYC and NYS agencies to replicate and expand the Gap Loan Fund model.
In accordance with federal law and U.S. Department of the Treasury policy, this institution is prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, age, or disability. Submit a complaint of discrimination, by mail to U.S. Department of the Treasury, Office of Civil Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity, 1500 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20220, (202) 622-1160 (phone), (202) 622-0367 (fax), or email crcomplaints@treasury.gov (email).