Donors Demonstrate Their Confidence in Urban Edge by Donating more than $10,000 in Community Investment Tax Credits

Five individuals have donated more than $10,000 to Urban Edge, Inc., a community development corporation serving Jamaica Plain and Roxbury, as part of the Community Investment Tax Credit (CITC) program that was instituted in January. The CITC is designed to encourage individuals and corporations to amplify their charitable giving by donating to qualified community development corporations (CDCs) that strengthen communities by expanding economic opportunities for individuals and families in Massachusetts.

In 2014, the CITC is allocating $3 million in tax credits to 38 CDCs cross Massachusetts. Donors receive a 50 percent tax credit for every dollar donated to these agencies that produce and preserve affordable housing units, provide financial literacy, and other services to low income residents in communities across Massachusetts. When this new state tax credit is paired with a donor’s typical federal tax deduction for such a gift, the total tax savings may be more than 65%. Urban Edge has access to $110,000 in tax credits through this program.

“Urban Edge is one of Boston’s oldest, most stable, and most effective community development corporations,” said Chrystal Kornegay, executive director of Urban Edge. “Throughout our 40-year history, we have strengthened the communities of Jamaica Plain and Roxbury. Donors are demonstrating their confidence in the work we do by participating in the CITC program and we are grateful for their support.”

Urban Edge helps residents with lower incomes and provides stability to the neighborhoods its serve through the development and management of affordable housing, the preservation of residency for tenants in need, and by providing residents with financial and economic counseling, among other services. Throughout its history, the organization has developed 1,250 units of affordable housing, making it one of the city’s largest nonprofit developers of affordable units. Most recently, the agency has been a prime mover in the redevelopment of the Jackson Square neighborhood, creating new affordable housing and commercial space along eight acres of land that border Roxbury and Jamaica Plain.

“I have supported Urban Edge’s work since the early 1980’s and have seen close up how they became and remained a consistent leader in transforming the communities of inner city Boston and the lives of the people in them. Their leadership at the staff and board level is among the very best in Boston. I know they will continue to make efficient and effective use of the funds they raise,” said Peter Munkenbeck, a lawyer and one of the group of initial donors to Urban Edge to take advantage of the CITC program.

The agency plans to use the resources raised through the CITC to increase economic resiliency for residents in the areas its serve, through programs like its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) Center, at which volunteers help low income residents prepare income tax returns that will afford them better access to the Earned Income Tax Credit, or through its first time home-buyer counseling, among other programs. In 2013 Urban Edge’s programs helped stabilize over 700 families utilizing these various tools.

About Urban Edge

Urban Edge is a minority-controlled nonprofit community development organization with a mission to help develop and sustain stable, healthy and diverse communities in Jamaica Plain, Roxbury, and surrounding neighborhoods of Boston. To achieve this mission, we advise families on how to become economically resilient, we build affordable housing opportunities for those in need, and we organize our residents to become leaders in the community.

We approach community development as a member of the community. We work to create conditions in which residents can thrive and shape their community’s future. Our ultimate goal is to foster diverse urban neighborhoods of choice populated by resilient families and sustained by dynamic webs of community relationships. To date, we have developed and preserved nearly 1,500 units of affordable rental and ownership housing for families at 16 sites in Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, and Dorchester.