NEW YORK (May 24, 2023) – Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) today hosted New York City faith leaders at an in-person public event and panel discussion highlighting resources, shared learnings, and challenges for faith organizations seeking to convert their underutilized land into affordable homes and community facilities. 
 
Legacy, Mission, and Wealth: Balancing Priorities in Faith-Based Development is the first event since the expansion of Enterprise’s national Faith-Based Development Initiative (FBDI) to New York in 2022. Enterprise will support up to 15 local faith-based organizations to create more than 1,000 affordable homes in the New York City area over the next five years, made possible with generous grant support from the Wells Fargo Foundation and Trinity Church Wall Street. 
 
Legacy, Mission and Wealth examined how faith-based groups can balance their development priorities:

  • Legacy grounded in faith
  • Mission to create affordable housing and oftentimes new space for community programs and ministry
  • Opportunity to build organizational and community wealth through affordable housing

The event highlighted resources for faith leaders and featured development, housing and financial experts, including a panel discussion on how to navigate complex issues as houses of worship reimagine their underutilized property for community benefit. 
 
New York City currently faces a severe shortage of affordable housing, with the scarcity of developable land presenting a major barrier to new housing development. Meanwhile, in New York City and across the U.S., faith-based organizations own thousands of acres of unused or underutilized land, yet typically lack the experience necessary to transform property into affordable housing. Through FBDI, Enterprise aims to provide deep and customized support to local faith-based organizations in the development of property into affordable homes and community facilities.

Photo caption from left:

Pastor Gil Monrose, executive director, NYC Mayor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships; Baaba Halm, VP and New York market leader, Enterprise Community Partners; Bishop Kermitt Williams, executive director/CEO, Kingdom Faith Developers; Stacy Spann, head of Housing Access and Affordability Philanthropy, Wells Fargo Foundation; The Reverend James I. Clark III, managing director, Mission Real Estate Development,Trinity Church Wall Street; Reverend David Bowers, VP and Mid-Atlantic market leader and FBDI senior advisor,  Enterprise Community Partners

Media Contacts:

Carla Pisarro
212.784.5715
cpisarro@groupgordon.com

Jacqueline Hlavenka-Sansone
551.337.1662
jacqueline.hlavenka-sansone@wellsfargo.com

New York
Faith-Based Development