Youth Employment Agency (YEA) Choice Markets
The Youth Employment Academy (YEA) is an operating business that will lease space from DHA Collaborative Facility (another RUGF NMTC recipient) to operate a 4,604 SF fresh food market, called Choice Market located in the ground floor of the building. The Market is located at the 10th and Osage light rail station as part of Denver Housing Authority’s Mariposa Redevelopment and is aligned with the Mariposa Community’s Healthy Living Initiative to provide fresh food in a food desert to the surrounding residents, building tenants and transit riders.
Investment Type
Project financing includes a Small QEI of $1.9 million in New Markets Tax Credit allocation, with Rose Urban Green Fund as the sole CDE and Northern Trust Bank as the NMTC investor.
Market
Choice Markets is located in a community including over 500 multi-family units and 4000 transit riders per day, as well as an estimated 200 employees/staff of the DHA Collaborative Facility. At the time of investment, this Project neighborhood had a median family income of 21.25% of statewide/metropolitan area incomes, a Poverty Rate of 52.6%, an unemployment rate that is 2.48x the National Average and located in an identified food desert.
Community Impact
The Youth Employment Academy will operate Choice Market providing affordable fresh foods for local residents, office tenants, and transit users. Annually, the YEA will provide low-income “at-risk” youth with culinary, service-oriented training in the areas of healthy food sourcing, preparation and packaging, retail sales and marketing.
Choice Market will provide a permanent home for local farmers markets that will distribute over 1,000 pounds of fresh foods to the low-income residents (free of charge) and general public at a reduced cost.
The project expects to create 4 full time permanent positions which will be accessible to low-income youth.
Developer/Sponsor
The developer and sponsor of this project, is the Housing Authority of the City and County of Denver (“DHA” or “Denver Housing Authority”) with a portfolio of over 11,000 units and housing choice vouchers, providing affordable housing to more than 26,000 very low, low and middle income individuals representing over 10,000 families. DHA has transformed communities throughout Denver by creating vibrant, revitalized, sustainable, transit oriented, and mixed-income neighborhoods by providing quality housing and services.
Investor
Northern Trust Bank is the Investor as well as participating CDE in this project.
The Youth Employment Academy (YEA) is an operating business that will lease space from DHA Collaborative Facility (another RUGF NMTC recipient) to operate a 4,604 SF fresh food market, called Choice Market located in the ground floor of the building.