Jobs Café at Findlay Market, part of a larger New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) transaction, will create a social enterprise restaurant linked to a workforce development program, provide retail space for small business start-ups affiliated with a local incubator, provide affordable and market rate housing, and create additional office and retail space for local vendors. Partners for the Common Good worked with the Reinvestment Fund to provide a $3.9 million loan for this ambitious project.

Jobs Café will continue the development of the Over-the-Rhine neighborhood of Cincinnati with additional social enterprise space and 68 rental housing units, 17 of which will remain affordable throughout the NMTC compliance period. The project is located in a severely distressed census tract that has a 56.1% poverty rate and an unemployment rate of 23.6%. The focal point of the project will be a 2,360 sq. ft. café and job training facility open to the public that will train and place at least 75 people annually into culinary jobs with living wages at local restaurants.

PCG and the Reinvestment Fund worked with other CDFIs and private lenders in this larger NMTC deal in order to promote community development and revitalization of the area.