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SADIE MCKEOWN
Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Offcer | The Community Preservation Corporation
"There are lots of ways to be a Financial First Responder. Delivering capital to communities in times of crisis is critical. At The Community Preservation Corporation (CPC), we maintain that level of urgency in communities that struggle daily. CPC was founded to be a source of stable capital in marginalized communities when other institutions couldn't or wouldn't invest in their future. Our success relies on public-private partnerships and working with like-minded organizations like Community Capital New York, dedicated to providing capital to people and places that face systemic barriers accessing it.
As we experienced the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of financial first responders was to push the money out immediately to resource our hospitals, first responders, essential workers, and small businesses. It was life and death and economic survival. Eight months later, we see the longer-term effects, and we can't afford to take housing security for granted.
We had a national housing affordability crisis affecting millions of people before COVID-19. Now, amid this pandemic, the same communities that are the most underserved and have historically had the least access to capital are the ones who are hit the hardest. We have to be resilient, keep fighting, and do even more to build an inclusive economy, one that works for all of us.
At CPC, we use the term "capital workers" because we not only provide access to stable capital to owners in low-income neighborhoods, we build their capacity to invest in and own multi-family real estate. I am grateful to be part of a community of financial first responders who have served New York State together during one of the most challenging times in our history."