SOUTH FLORIDA
$32.1 million Total Project Cost
$32 million Federal NMTC
$19 million FCLF Federal NMTC Allocation
Construction of new 71,280 sq-ft facility to provide services and resources for children, youth, and families
Estimated reach 13,400 annually
63 Temporary and 95 Permanent jobs estimated
“We are deeply grateful to Florida Community Loan Fund for investing in our community by providing vital resources to fund the development and launch of the Children's Village at Lotus Village. Utilizing an innovative collective impact model, the Children's Village will offer Lotus House and other Overtown based nonprofits a platform for unprecedented collaboration, helping to make the dreams of countless children and youth come true for generations to come. We are ending and preventing homelessness in the Children's Village by putting children and families first. Thank you FCLF!" − Constance Collins, President, Lotus House / Lotus Children’s Village
Lotus House has provided shelter and support to homeless women, youth, and children in Miami’s Overtown neighborhood since 2004, with an innovative, holistic approach that addresses not only the immediate causes of homelessness, but also the deeper issues such as physical vulnerability and trauma. In 2016, with financing through NMTC, Lotus Village replaced a former collection of deteriorating structures with a new 100,000 square-foot center which provides 140 living units, on-site healthcare, counseling and social services, daycare, job readiness training, and a commercial kitchen. Lotus Village is the largest women and children’s center in the nation.
With a 2023 financing transaction through the New Markets Tax Credit program, Lotus Children’s Village will build a new, 71,280 square-foot multi-provider children’s education and resource center, designed to complement the existing and adjacent Lotus Village. Lotus Village and other Overtown-based nonprofits and community based organizations will collaborate on the site to offer enriched educational and therapeutic supports, diverse programming in science, technology, literacy and creative arts, greater access to health, legal and social services, and a wide range of community resources. This collective impact model will provide services and programming to heal, empower, and uplift children, youth, and families that are among the most vulnerable in Miami-Dade community. There will also be a donations center, which supplies shelter program participants with basic needs when they transition to stable housing.
Lotus Children’s Village will serve an estimated 13,400 clients – an increase of 85% over current capacity – and 90% of these are expected to be low-income, minority individuals. The new building will put to productive use a large land parcel near I-95 in the Overtown/Park West CRA area. The facility will also serve residents of the surrounding historic African American neighborhood of Overtown, making it an asset to the entire community.
Florida Community Loan Fund provided $19 million in federal NMTCs for Lotus Children’s Village. The investor is U.S. Bank Community Development Corporation. The project is in a highly distressed and impoverished area, and the construction of the new facility aligns with the goals of two major community-based initiatives whose purpose is to empower and create opportunity for youth in poverty: the City of Miami’s Anti-Poverty Initiative and the Overtown 2021 Children and Youth Master Plan. This transaction was completed in April 2023.
“When I toured the original Lotus Village years ago, I marveled at the way in which the organization had thought through the needs of its guests. Lotus Children’s Village is the next stage of that holistic thought process. It brings a multitude of services together at one location and expands the quality, caring programs and services that have been in place at Lotus Village for years. With the help of NMTC and its generous donors, the new project gives the organization the capacity to greatly multiply its reach, not only to residents at Lotus Village, but also to the surrounding Overtown community.” – Nelson Black, Chief Lending Officer, Florida Community Loan Fund
Community Profile:
- 51.8% Poverty Rate
- Income 40.1% of AMI (Area Median Income)
- Unemployment 4.4x National Average
- Food Desert
Pictured above, architectural rendering of Lotus Children's Village. Below, rendering showing its proximity to the existing Lotus House.
