2022-06-07T13:58:45-07:00 2021-09-30 990 2020-10-01 710464321 COMMUNITIES UNLIMITED INC COMM 4794432700 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 Ines Polonius CEO 4794432700 2022-06-07 1 11 1 AAL2 2020 2022-09-23 18:48:47Z Ines Polonius 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 11370607 0 X www.communitiesu.org X 1976 AR Communities Unlimited, Inc. CU connects people and rural communities to solutions. We work with people, Please see schedule O for our Promise, Our Purpose, Our Approach 8 8 70 0 0 0 7429214 10530532 624656 723298 21760 12574 -24137 -229020 8051493 11037384 224640 795682 0 0 4513773 5229524 0 0 0 1871748 1606923 6610161 7632129 1441332 3405255 19186633 25081026 6172789 8661930 13013844 16419096 Communities Unlimited, Inc. CU connects people and rural communities to solutions. We work with people, Please see Schedule O supplemental information for Part I, line 1 for Our Promise, Our Purpose, Our Approach, Our Place, and Our Organization. 0 0 3741198 0 4471240 CU's Environmental Services Program works with small population community environmental management systems: community drinking water systems; wastewater systems; and solid waste management systems through on-site technical assistance, training, publications, and financing. With a current staff of over 40 highly trained professional technical assistance providers, CU Environmental Services supports efforts to provide access to safe drinking water for everyone and environmentally-responsible waste disposal within an ever-changing regulatory environment in the communities that are provided technical assistance and training. Our technical assistance focuses on building local capacity of governing board members, environmental operators, and other system staff so that they will develop and maintain the capability to adequately manage and operate their environmental management systems. All of CU Environmental Services' technical assistance and training is focused on achieving national environmental system outcomes. As a regional partner of the national Rural Community Assistance Partnership, (RCAP), CU serves as the Southern RCAP partner in providing environmental technical assistance and training throughout a seven-state region of Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma. Additionally, CU Environmental Services supports other RCAP regional partners in other regions of the country with access to their CDFI community environmental lending. During fiscal year 2021, CU Environmental Services provided onsite assistance to 573 small communities and rural environmental systems. CU's environmental staff leveraged over $77 million in construction financing to improve community water and wastewater systems. CU Environmental Services staff completed 76 training workshops attended by 879 community officials, board members, certified operators, and other environmental management system staff members. This training was significant due to the fact that it was all provided virtually online due to COVID-19 Pandemic restrictions on large group training sessions. CU Environmental Services achieved the following National Environmental Outcomes last year for the following number of communities: 44 Communities: Improved Coordination between Communities (Regionalization Strategies); 107 Communities: Improved Public Health by achieving compliance with Safe Drinking Water Act rules and regulations; 75 Communities: Improved Environmental Health by achieving compliance with Clean Water Act and Pollution Control Act rules and regulations; 56 Communities: Improved Capacity of Community Facilities; 224 Communities: Achieved Financial Sustainability; 147 Communities: Increased Managerial Capacity; 22 Communities: Improved Self-Defined Prosperity; 26 Communities: Achieved Global Information System Mapping Capabilities. 525133 42315 4016139 In 1992, CU started making loans to water and wastewater systems in rural areas to ensure that residents had clean, healthy drinking water and safe wastewater treatment systems. In 2001 CU was certified as a CDFI. Loans made to Community Environmental Management Systems are used for improvement projects, pre-development financing, purchase of equipment and emergency financing needs. In 2021, CU loaned $3,712,427 to 75 water and wastewater systems to improve their water and wastewater systems. These loans included $2,318,456 (62%) loaned in Persistent Poverty Counties. Loans ranged from the small loan needed to meet compliance to larger loans for pre-development work that helped these communities access larger loans and grants. $1,499,4660 in SBA PPP loans were made to 51 systems which were later forgiven, effectively providing needed capital to meet payroll or give bonuses to environmental system employees during the COVID-19 Pandemic. In response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, CU created the Small Utility Recovery Loan Program with a low introductory interest rate of 2% for the first two years, then scaling up based on the term of the loan for a maximum rate of 5%. Small business loans can be used for working capital, which is one of the biggest gaps in small business financing. Other uses include purchase or repair of equipment and real estate purchase or improvements. CU offers a variety of small business loan products that are designed to grow as the business grows. CU's small business lending is focused on filling gaps in rural places and minority populations. CU made 239 SBA PPP loans to small business in 2021 for $2,609,995. These were small businesses across all seven states who were unable to find local banks to process their applications. Again, the vast majority will be forgiven. Twenty-five small businesses received $699,953 in traditional loans. This includes 59% to minority owned businesses, 29% in Persistent Poverty Counties and 46% to women-owned businesses. In response to the Covid-19 Pandemic, a recovery tool kit was developed by CU to provide critical assistance to entrepreneurs working to overcome economic challenges. This included: Specific disaster funds were raised to pay the first three months of qualifying non-SBA small business loans. Six months of payments from SBA on all SBA microloans, if, the loan was made prior to March 27, 2020. Two new Recovery Loan Programs for existing businesses, both loan programs include three months of payment forgiveness, no origination fees and competitive interest rates: Pivot Loan Program - $5,000 or less for existing businesses that would be adding a new product or service resulting in a new source of revenue. Reboot Loan Program - $10,000 or less for existing businesses that were forced to reduce hours or close and need funding to reopen. 1474464 229950 1663927 Entrepreneurship, Community Sustainability, and Healthy Foods: CU's Entrepreneurship team connects small businesses to solutions by providing intensive management consulting and training services to businesses in ideation, startup, growth, and transition stages. their management consultants help small business owners identify growth issues related to how their businesses are managed, recommend the corrective services, and then work one-on-one with the business to deliver the recommended services. CU's Entrepreneurship team provides services collaboratively with the Community Sustainability and Lending teams to support their work with small businesses. Their consultants typically spend anywhere form 30 to 100 hours of time with one business over several months working to build the business and management skills of business owners. Their focus is one-on-one face-to-face capacity building. They also offer some workshop trainings. Their consulting areas are to teach small business owners: 1) financial tracking; 2) financial analysis; 3) planning strategies; and 4) digital marketing. For fiscal year 2021, the Entrepreneurship team continued to help owners through the pandemic. All one-on-one consulting and webinars were provided virtually. While operating virtually, our entrepreneurship team assisted businesses in startup. The entrepreneurship team worked closely with one of its funders to provide small grant stipends and technical assistance to rural Black businesses in 15 counties of the Arkansas Delta. In FY 2021, CU's Community Sustainability partnered with 14 rural communities to work toward more vibrant, sustainable economies by leveraging local assets for long-term growth. CU recognizes that for communities to achieve real sustainability the approach must be radically resident driven. Residents drive the process; creating the plans, filling gaps and connecting to existing resources to activate the community's power for change. CU's staff facilitates this process and assists with infrastructure management and improvement, community facility development, small business development and access to financing. They believe that people should have the opportunity to thrive where they live, work, play, and worship regardless of the location or population of their community. One of the goals of CU staff is to build a diverse leadership team who are open minded and motivated to initiate change. They provide training to develop skills that will enable residents to be problem solvers. As a regional hub they provide WealthWorks training and value chain facilitation. Assets are recognized through the engagement of community leaders and utilized to build a strategy for economic growth. This strategy directs the long-term execution of work by CU staff side by side within the community. Most recently, during the COVID-19 Pandemic, the team worked alongside senior leadership to create opportunities to pivot the work into a virtual connectivity platform. They believe in the communities they serve and investing in creating learning opportunities during a time when they were often most impacted was crucial. Monthly Zoom community leadership meetings along with educational opportunities rounded our a robust engagement strategy to keep their communities moving toward their goals in spite of obstacles. By deploying their E.D.G.E. Capacity Building model - which involves Enlightening (training), Delivering (technical assistance), Guiding (as community conducts tasks), and Empowering (monitoring the community's continued success in their execution of tasks) - CU purposefully and intentionally goes into every community with an exit strategy in mind, realizing that the true benefit of their efforts is building or strengthening the capacity of local governments and non-profits so that when they do complete a project, they are no longer needed to ensure that community facilities, local housing, and/or community and economic development will continue to be sustainable. CU leverages each of its programs and identifies partners to bring the resources needed for implementation of the strategies to create lasting change. In addition, the Entrepreneurship team is involved during the process, bringing one on one consultation to local businesspeople, to increase profitability and provide jobs in these communities. CU helps communities: - Evaluate ordinances and policies that are friendly to small businesses - Increase the number of local businesses - Support growth of existing local businesses - Deliver resources - Provide access to financing - Develop broadband strategies and connect to resources for deployment CU seeks to impact multiple social determinants of health that impact families, businesses, and communities. The Healthy Foods Program understands that sustainable positive impact requires developing the entire food system. They focus on those in the system that are underserved and economically disadvantaged from the farmers to consumers. CU's service area includes about half of the nation's persistent poverty counties, and six of the states in their service area are in the top 10 of states with the highest percentage of food insecurity. This was before the pandemic. In 2020 CU created market opportunities for small-scale farmers to sell their specialty crops (fruits and vegetables), which for several was the difference between preparing to plant crops for next year or losing their farm. The Healthy Foods Program also supported farmers markets and other community initiatives serving low-income food deserts. The unique challenges of 2020 continued to impact small-scale producers during 2021. The Farm-to-Pantry initiative, first created by CU in 2020, continued to meet critical needs by purchasing over $25,000 (wholesale prices) in produce that was donated to food pantries from primarily small-scale Black farmers. To the best of our knowledge, the Healthy Foods Program in collaboration with Lending empowered small-scale Black farmers to submit and secure almost $60,000 in PPP loams that kept people growing and delivering fresh produce. Another highlight form this year was the implementation of a new collaboration focusing on increasing consumption of Healthy Foods in families with children with health conditions that could be improved by changes in diet. This project, supported by No Kid Hungry, has a critical local partner, a medical provider that is female and Black, who owns a family practice clinic serving primarily low-income Black families. The goal is to leverage the relationship between the families and their medical provider to increase consumption of healthy foods. Who knew there was such a thing as healthy homemade banana pudding! The long-term impacts are improved health, which is known to be positively correlated with improved wealth-building opportunities these children have as adults. Collaborations with farmers, community leaders, University staff, food pantries and others working to increase available healthy foods remain central to our success. We deeply value and appreciate the commitment of our partners and the dependability of our supporters. Access to Healthy Foods remains an equity issue. Prior to the pandemic, the food insecurity rate in the U/S. was the lowest it had been in over 20 years. (Data from Feeding America) - 1 in 9 individuals were food insecure - 1 in 7 children were food insecure And, the impacts of structural racism and discrimination, especially in the persistent poverty counties in CU's service area reflect the disparity. -1 in 12 white, non-Hispanic, individuals were food insecure - 1 in 4 native American individuals were food insecure - 1 in 5 Black individuals were food insecure - 1 in 6 Latino individuals were food insecure Healthy Foods continues to work for the day that small-scale farmers are part of securing the produce supply chain and ensuring the nation has fresh food in the event of natural disasters and that everyone in our country has access to enough healthy food. 625984 523417 886078 Various small programs 625984 523417 886078 6366779 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 167 0 1 70 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 8 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 X X Communities Unlimited Inc 4794432700 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 Ines Polonius CEO 40 1 X 126581 0 15556 Kimberly Griffey CFO 35 0 X 87156 0 15151 Chris Page Board President 1 0 X X 0 0 0 Billy Hix Secretary Treasurer 1 0 X X 0 0 0 Deborah Warren Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Donna Kay Yeargan Board member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Salomon Torres Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Maximillan Sprinkle Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Wayne Fawbush Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 Dominique Gomez Board Member 1 0 X 0 0 0 213737 0 30707 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7767890 2762642 0 10530532 Loan Interest, origination fees, late fees 522291 613536 613536 0 0 Fee for Service Contracts - Business Consulting 541618 45210 45210 0 0 Fee For Service Contracts - Environmental 541620 25877 25877 0 0 Fee for Receivership 541200 28824 28824 0 0 Loan Portfolio Management Fee 523920 9851 9851 0 0 0 0 0 0 723298 10949 0 0 10949 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 103857 0 333223 0 -229366 0 -229366 -229366 0 0 0 1625 0 0 0 1625 1625 1625 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Miscellaneous 812990 346 346 0 0 0 0 0 0 346 11037384 495903 0 10949 140517 140517 655165 655165 0 0 0 0 229418 23407 206011 0 0 0 0 0 4026656 3613000 413656 0 204449 165991 38458 0 453880 396094 57786 0 315121 269463 45658 0 0 0 0 0 10975 9642 1333 0 45908 0 45908 0 50000 0 50000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 168362 102272 66090 0 12101 9300 2801 0 674600 507672 166928 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 138574 92247 46327 0 134089 131823 2266 0 0 0 0 0 9118 5146 3972 0 78365 78365 0 0 0 0 0 0 32093 0 32093 0 62004 33215 28789 0 Dues 7433 6123 1310 0 Bad Debts -52863 -53529 666 0 Loan Fees 175079 174279 800 61085 6587 54498 0 7632129 6366779 1265350 0 8558101 13875570 0 0 0 0 891121 953018 0 0 0 0 8201890 9009446 0 0 17495 20369 1949873 817830 1427791 1132043 0 0 90235 90580 0 0 0 0 0 0 19186633 25081026 335302 545737 0 0 1572249 2525835 0 0 9201 -10566 0 0 1781037 2110924 2475000 3490000 0 0 6172789 8661930 X 13013844 16419096 0 0 13013844 16419096 19186633 25081026 X 3405255 0 0 0 0 -3 X 0 1 X 1 1 1 X 4032726 5662296 6392855 7429214 10530532 34047623 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4032726 5662296 6392855 7429214 10530532 34047623 0 34047623 16821 19164 38000 21760 10949 106694 0 0 0 0 0 0 3120 22196 -16422 -24137 -37095 -52338 34101979 5839888 0.99841 0.99705 X Schedule A, Part II, Line 10 Loss on Rental Property - Our total net rental loss was ($229,366). This included a loss on disposal of capital assets of $190,300. So for line 10 we did not included the loss. Other income equals $1,625 gain on sale of assets plus $346 miscellaneous income, less ($39,066) rental property loss for total other income of ($37,095) RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 12294 0 1 52122 64416 0 Schedule C, Part II-B, Line 1 General meetings with elected representatives to discuss water and wastewater needs in our seven state region. 0 1 X 0 546000 546000 0 1270347 684304 586043 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 133526 133526 0 1132043 Schedule D, Part IV, Line 2b Escrow funds held to pay insurance and taxes on homes financed 1 University of Kentucky Research PO Box 931113 Cleveland OH 44193 616033693 25000 0 Research Project on "Investing in water systems to reduce health and economic inequalities in the rural South". Urban Institute 500 LEnfant Plaza SW Washington DC 20024 520880375 25000 0 Research Project on "Investing in water systems to reduce health and economic inequalities in the rural South". Arkansas United Community Coalition 1306 E Robinson Ave Ste B6 Springdale AR 72764 275271968 10000 0 For work completed under our Workers Fund project. Arkansas United worked directly with the food production workers to help them apply for financial assistance during the Pandemic. Fahe 319 Oak St Berea KY 40403 310986871 37167 0 Operating Support for Partners of Rural Transformation Steering Committee, a group of six regional community development financial institution organizations that have united on a collective agenda to increase investment in the regions of persistent poverty, to advance social and economic opportunity and health equity. Remix Ideas 300 S Spring St Suite 604 Little Rock AR 72201 822495646 15000 0 For Remix Ideas to work with Communities Unlimited to connect qualified minority entrepreneurs to new financing options allowing us to expand our small business lending in Little Rock, AR and the surrounding area, while allowing Remix Ideas to connect their target market with relevant funding opportunities. Higher Purpose Co 130 Desoto Ave Suite 10 Clarksdale MS 38614 821629178 15000 0 For Higher Purpose Co to work with Communities Unlimited to connect qualified minority entrepreneurs to new financing options allowing us to expand our small business lending in Clarksdale, MS and the surrounding area, while allowing Higher Purpose Co to connect their target market with relevant funding opportunities. Urgent & Primary Care of Clarksdale 125 Highway 322 Clarksdale MS 38614 821075385 13350 0 Work completed in relation to our new collaboration focusing on increasing consumption of healthy foods in families with children with health conditions that could be improved by changes in diet. Urgent & Primary Care of Clarksdale provides their clients with the opportunity to receive Food RX boxes that contain healthy food. Payments made to Urgent & Primary Care of Clarksdale were for the time and direct support provided to this project during FY 2021. 5 2 Scholarships for Citizenship or DACA Applications 21 12315 0 Financial assistance for workers in the food production industry that were affected in some way by the COVID-19 Pandemic were eligible to receive $550.00 in form of a check or prepaid VISA card to assist them financially 775 436250 0 Startup stipend 1 10000 0 Participation in Pitch Contest for Small Businesses 15 7600 Delta Owned grants for Small Businesses 183 199000 Schedule I, Part I, Line 2 Grant funds were monitored through online meetings. Invoices were reviewed for accuracy and validity prior to payment Form 990, Part I, Line 1 combining their ingenuity with technology, expertise and capital to unwind generations of inequity and ensure healthy water, healthy food, heathy businesses, heathy communities and healthy lives. Our Promise To partner with people working for a better life in their home town and connect them to solutions for achieving sustainable prosperity. Our Purpose Talent is distributed equally across the United States. Opportunity clearly is not. Access to opportunities should not depend on where you live, how much money you have in the bank or what you look like. CU works to create greater access to opportunities for individuals living in places of persistent poverty. Our Approach We take a holistic approach to community development by combining human connection and ingenuity with technology, expertise and capital to solve problems. Our staff work to blend its services across program areas to meet communities where they are and sustain healthy businesses, healthy communities and healthy lives. Our Place We serve communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. This service area includes 45% of our nation's persistent poverty counties, where more than 20% of the population has lived in poverty for over 30 years. 47% of people living in persistently poor rural counties are people of color. And, this area is home to rural innovators, small town entrepreneurs and people with a history of working hard from sunrise to sunset to provide for their families. Here people seek opportunities to break through generations of inequity and disinvestment in order to reach prosperity. Our Organization We are a 501(c)3 nonprofit corporation founded in 1976, with over 70 staff in seven states and over $25 million in assets. We were certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in 2001. As a CDFI, we expand economic opportunity for small business owners and communities by providing access to capital when traditional financing options are not available. We work collaboratively to build partnerships that complement our services in order to maximize the benefits to their clients. We are a founding partner of three national collaboratives. In the 1970s, we helped found the Rural Community Assistance Partnership (RCAP), the oldest national nonprofit serving the nation's small communities with environmental services that support access to safe clean drinking water and other critical cornerstones of healthy communities. As one of six regional RCAP partners, CU works in over 600 rural communities each year, and leverages millions of dollars in funding for essential community facilities and infrastructure. In 2011, we founded the national WealthWorks network, providing solutions that include a 21st-century approach to economic development that builds from local assets, connects to regional markets, and creates wealth that stays local. In 2018, we co-founded the Partners for Rural Transformation which works to eliminate persistent poverty through capital investments and capacity building in rural communities across the country. While we are focused on capacity building and lending in places where both are needed the most, we also leverage this field experience to inform national research, policy and advocacy work. in 2021 we launched our own research work which utilizes our program metrics to generate thought leadership in the community economic development field. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 11b A Copy of the 990 was reviewd by the CFO with all the Board Members at the Board of Directors Meeting on 5/27/2022 Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 12c Annually all employees and Board members must review and sign the Conflict of Interest Policy. Form 990, Part VI, Section B, Line 15 The Board of Directors review the CEO salary and makes recommendations for revisions. For all other staff salaries, comparable data is obtained from a third party consulting agency. The consultant meets with top management to review information and make necessary adjustments. Form 990, Part VI, Section C, Line 19 Upon written request, documents are available for review at our corporate offices or we will copy and mail any request documents. Form 990, Part XI, Line 9 Rounding CRG Realty 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 Affordable Housing AR 0 0 Communities Unlimited Inc alt Consulting 3 East Colt Square Drive Fayetteville AR 72703 562083776 Small business development TN 501 c 3 7 Communities Unlimited Inc 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 alt Consulting b 414069 FMV