To elevate the housing issue in the business community, the Foundation spearheaded the creation of the NWA Regional Fund, through which local banks invested more than $40 million in equity to support five new affordable housing developments in Northwest Arkansas. The fund supported 345 new rental units for lower-income families that will run, on average, 49% below current market rate rent. This will result in $65 million in rental savings for these families over the next 35 years.

“In 50 years of operation, we have seen only two other states that have been able to put together a regional fund like this one,” said Christine Cormier at the time, who is executive vice president – fund management and investor relations for WNC, which structured the fund’s tax credit syndicate. “Arkansas now joins this elite group.”

While working additional developments through the pipeline, the Foundation also turned its attention to policy change, with an invitation from Bentonville Mayor Stephanie Orman to join her Housing Affordability Workgroup in 2022. Chaired by Excellerate CEO Webster, the group spent a year researching and analyzing ways to encourage developers to build affordable housing for the city’s residents. This work resulted in a recommendation for developer incentives and process improvements called Project ARROW, which was adopted by the Bentonville City Council in January and is currently in its implementation phase.

Having distributed $15 million in Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) for Benton County during the height of the pandemic, Excellerate has also been appropriated $2.4M of the County’s remaining ERA funding to leverage toward an affordable housing development. Washington County has done the same for its residents, providing $1.7 million in ERA funds to the Foundation for affordable housing construction and housing stability services.

This track record of being able to bring the community together to tackle some of the region’s biggest challenges resulted in the Council on Foundations and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development honoring Excellerate Foundation with the 2023 HUD Secretary’s Award for Public-Philanthropic Partnerships.

Excellerate Housing, LLC is a milestone in Excellerate Foundation’s 25-year history, and it will provide the Foundation with even more opportunities to provide affordable housing to low-income families in diverse, inclusive environments with additional services and resources that will help them thrive.