It’s About the Money. But the People Make It Happen.

Some of Thomasville's faithful attended Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center's Community Development Summit to understand how church land can be part of the housing solution.

This has been a big month for TCDC and InvestTVL.

We learned that we’ve been selected as a semifinalist for Enterprise Community Partners’ $2 million Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge. InvestTVL also secured a $500,000 USDA Intermediary Relending Program loan, bringing new capital into our community to support housing and economic development.

Those are big numbers—and important opportunities. But money alone doesn’t build houses. People do.

That’s why the biggest highlight this month was traveling to Atlanta with a group of Thomasville-area faith leaders and potential developers to learn more about how churches and other community institutions can use their land and resources to help address local housing needs. Wesley Myrick and his team at Georgia Interfaith Public Policy Center did a great job bringing together developers, financers, and faith leaders to make the important connection between available assets, land, and know-how.

Through InvestTVL, we’re working to create more flexible financing for local developers. Through the Housing Affordability Breakthrough Challenge, we have an opportunity to scale that model and pair financing with technical assistance and a stronger development pipeline. And through partnerships with faith leaders, local builders, banks, government, philanthropy, and neighborhood organizations, we’re growing the group of people who can actually put those resources to work.

That’s the bigger vision: Capital + capacity + community.

Thomasville’s housing challenges won’t be solved by one organization or one big project. They’ll be solved by building an ecosystem of people who have the ideas, relationships, tools, and capital to make things happen.

We’re proud of the momentum—and even more excited about the people building it with us.