August 2009

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Community First Fund is pleased to announce that its annual Friends of the Fund awards celebration will be held at Lancaster’s new convention center on Friday, November 13^th, 2009 beginning at 12 noon. Registration and networking will precede the lunch which will feature Julius Walls Jr., President and CEO of Greyston Bakery as the keynote speaker. The mission of Greyston Bakery is simple: feed your conscience. All Do-Goodie brownie profits go to the Greyston Foundation to support jobs, child care, health care, and housing for the underprivileged. Look for your invitation in September.

Community First Fund Named “Best In Class”

Community First Fund has again been nationally recognized for its outstanding work as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). A semi-finalist for the 2009 Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance, Community First was praised for its innovative financial approaches and responsible lending. CDFIs are market- based, private sector financial intermediaries that create opportunities for low-wealth and low-income individuals and institutions and spark growth in hard-to-serve markets across the nation.

“Now more than ever, we are pleased to honor and recognize the outstanding achievements of the semi-finalists and finalists of the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance. They are true heroes. Even in this difficult time, these opportunity finance institutions are leaders who remain focused on finance that produces positive changes and significant impact in those markets that need it most,” said Mark Pinsky, CEO of the Philadelphia-based Opportunity Finance Network, the leading national network of high-performance CDFIs.

Client: My House is Your House

Johanny Cepeda-Munroe Café, Comfort, Conversation and Creative Arts. This is the motto of Mi Casa Su Casa in downtown Reading, PA. At the age of 12, Johanny Cepeda-Munroe made a pact with two cousins in the Dominican Republic to one day open a fashion house. Many years later, while Johanny was working as a college counselor by day and community center director by night in New York City, she discovered that her two cousins had opened a café in downtown Reading. Johanny’s cousins were ready to get out of the business, but Johanny saw this as the perfect opportunity to own the creative outlet that she had always wanted and purchased the business. Johanny and her husband liquidated all of their assets to purchase the building and took a loan from Community First Fund to do building renovations.

Johanny wanted to empower herself, her family and her community. Mi Casa Su Casa is now a second home for the Cepeda-Munroe’s children and they hope to make it a second home for the community. Offering a variety of well-priced American, Mediterranean, Mexican and Latino Soul food, organic in-house roasted Dominican coffee, along with comfortable seating, art and music, Mi Casa Su Casa is already finding its place within the community.