Dearfield Fund for Black Wealth Wins 2023 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability

May 24, 2023

Dearfield Fund for Black Wealth Wins 2023 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability

The Dearfield Fund for Black Wealth, a Gary Community Venture, is proud to announce that it has been selected as one of four winners of the 2023 Ivory Prize for Housing Affordability from more than 200 applicants. The Ivory Prize is a national award to recognize ambitious, feasible and scalable solutions to housing affordability.

“Many Black and African American families are considered ‘mortgage-ready,’ but lack the capital needed for a down payment due to historic housing discrimination that has prevented Black people from building wealth,” said Aisha T. Weeks, Managing Director of the Dearfield Fund for Black Wealth. “Moreover, the rising cost of housing in many U.S. cities leaves families vulnerable to displacement due to rising rents. To address this centuries-old issue and advance housing stability, we’ve created a new financing tool that invests in and alongside Black homeowners in the form of returnable down-payment assistance. The Ivory Prize is meaningful to us because it recognizes the program for its place-based impact, and elevates the Dearfield Fund as a scalable and replicable solution that can be used nationally to address housing affordability and to build generational wealth.”

Each year, the Ivory Prize selects a group of finalists and winners from hundreds of applicants across three categories: Construction & Design, Finance, and Public Policy & Regulatory Reform. The 2023 Ivory Prize began in September 2022 with a national search for the most innovative, scalable, and affordability-focused organizations. After two finalist rounds, the Dearfield Fund was selected as a winner in the Finance category. 

Congratulations to the other 2023 Ivory Prize Winners: Diamond Age (Phoenix, Arizona); National Zoning Atlas (Ithaca, New York); and PermitFlow (San Jose, California). We’re honored to share this recognition with such a bold and committed group of changemakers.

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