DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INITIATIVE
A Note from the Director
When LGFCU seeded the Development Finance Initiative (DFI) back in 2010, we at the School of Government knew that North Carolina communities needed technical assistance on real estate development and finance to help them achieve their community and economic development goals. What we didn’t know at that time, however, was that DFI would grow into an important statewide institution that supports state agencies, local governments, and their charitable partners on an incredibly wide variety of transformative development projects from the mountains to the coast.
Today, nearly 10 years later, we can fully appreciate the value of that initial, prescient investment by LGFCU. The demand for DFI’s services has soared beyond our expectations, and at the time of this writing, DFI has embarked on more than 150 projects. More than 75 percent of those projects were conducted in areas designated as distressed, and more than 60 percent occurred in rural counties. Hundreds of millions of dollars in private investment has broken ground, and hundreds of millions more is in the pipeline. Thanks to LGFCU’s commitment almost a decade ago, DFI was in place to assist state agencies with disaster recovery following devastating hurricanes—work that continues today through a productive partnership with the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
The breadth of DFI’s expertise has also expanded. Initially, DFI’s work was focused on downtown commercial areas. More recently, DFI has developed expertise on community development needs such as affordable housing and neighborhood revitalization. DFI has been directly responsible for enabling the production of hundreds of units of affordable housing for low income persons across the state.
DFI continues to play an important educational role for both professionals and full-time students. DFI supports a graduate level course every semester for planning, public administration, and business students who want to learn how to perform financial feasibility analysis for community revitalization projects. More than 100 students have gone through the course and now work for the public’s benefit on challenging development projects all over the nation. When those students become professionals, they can attend School of Government short courses that are supported by DFI instructors. More than 700 professionals have received such training.
DFI’s impact is nothing short of stunning, and all of it is owed to that commitment by LGFCU back in 2010. The partnership with LGFCU remains as important today as ever. Graduate students supervised by DFI staff perform analysis for local governments at no charge. DFI’s reach extends to some of our smallest communities that could not otherwise afford DFI’s assistance.
We at DFI owe a debt of gratitude to LGFCU for its vision and investment in the past. Looking ahead, we recognize and value LGFCU’s continued commitment to DFI’s work and to the communities that benefit from it. The transformative impact of DFI simply would not have been possible without LGFCU.
Thank you,
Tyler Mulligan
Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government
Director, Development Finance Initiative
DFI’s impact is nothing short of stunning, and all of it is owed to that commitment by LGFCU back in 2010.
—TYLER MULLIGAN
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Staff Spotlight
Amelie Bailey // Real Estate Development Analyst
Amelie Bailey’s academic background gave her an early introduction to the push-and-pull of data and ideas. But it was the “boots on the ground” experience in faculty member and DFI director Tyler Mulligan’s class that set her planning career in motion…
Frank Muraca // Real Estate Development Analyst
For Frank Muraca, the journey to working in planning began in an unlikely locale: China. Later, as a graduate fellow, DFI would give Muraca the opportunity to work on projects that struck a deep chord in his areas of interest…