Neil D. Freeman, President of Aries Capital affiliate Urban Development Fund (UDF) is pleased to announce that UDF was recently awarded an allocation totaling $50 million under the United States Department of the Treasury’s Federal New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program. This marks the 8th award UDF has received for a total of $432.5 million since the program’s inception in 2000, making it one of only a handful of Community Development Entities (CDEs) to receive more than seven allocations in the nation.

Established by Congress, the NMTC Program is administered through the United States Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. The fund was created to stimulate economic opportunity and job creation in low-income communities. The NMTC Program permits individual and corporate taxpayers to receive a credit against Federal Income Taxes for making qualified investments in intermediary vehicles that have been certified as a CDE.

“With the NMTC allocations, UDF has invested over $1.1 billion in redevelopment projects across the country and has provided significant economic improvement to the local communities,” said Freeman. “UDF has invested in important entities, enriching the lives and hopes of children, improving medical care for trauma victims and dialysis patients and providing better mental health care for juveniles. It has also funded food banks to combat hunger and invested in businesses and hotels that create thousands of jobs and train executives from lower income communities.  I am proud that the UDF team is again included in this beneficial program which will fuel new opportunities in underserved areas.”

The CDEs receiving the latest round of NMTC awards were selected from a pool of 214, and are located across 35 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. UDF’s previous investments have supported community facilities across the nation including the Tarrant Area Food Bank, Texas; Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Miami, Florida; Goodwill Easters Seals in Mobile, Alabama; Downtown Rescue Mission in Huntsville, Alabama and the Houston Food Bank in Houston, Texas.  To date, UDF projects have created over 11,250 full-time jobs in the nation’s most distressed areas.  More importantly, UDF’s project investments provide much needed social and community services in the areas we serve including affordable healthy food, health care, childcare, education and specialized social services all without regard to ability to pay.

“UDF is proud to have the opportunity to continue to support our community development partners. UDF’s investments with this allocation will provide much needed community services and job opportunities in the low-income communities,” added Freeman.

In this year’s round, the Federal NMTC’s Program awarded a total of $3.5 billion in New Market Tax Credits to 73 CDEs, including UDF, bringing the total amount awarded through the NMTC Program to $57.5 billion. According to the most recent data, the NMTC Program award recipients have infused more than $48.6 billion in investments in low-income communities and businesses, created or retained over 800,000 jobs, and contributed to the construction or rehabilitation of more than 205 million square feet of commercial real estate.

About Urban Development Fund

Urban Development Fund was formed by Aries Capital to provide capital to developers of real estate projects that have a catalytic impact on community revitalization in underserved urban markets.  UDF utilizes the subsidy afforded by the New Market Tax Credit to offer more favorable rates and terms that would not have been available to projects in the marketplace, and is committed to investing all of its NMTC equity in communities designated as areas of higher distress by the CDFI Fund.  Examples of past UDF projects include Goodwill-Big Bend in Florida, University of Chicago Medical Center in Illinois,  and Camp McDowell in Alabama.