In order to facilitate and maintain impactful community development, there are many moving parts, collaborations, and partnerships behind the scenes. Combining efforts and a shared vision between non-profits, developers, and collaborating with Community Development Funding Institutions (CDFIs), this vision can become a reality. In Fort Wayne, a revitalization of one of Indiana’s oldest commercial districts, The Landing, and a high-quality affordable childcare center at Bridge of Grace, was made possible by one such CDFI by the name of IFF.
IFF, a community development financial institution headquartered in Illinois, has shown a commitment of investing and uplifting communities by providing financial support and connections across the Midwest.
Amandula Anderson is the Executive Director, Indiana Region, and started on the real estate solutions team with IFF in 2019. Anderson was promoted to her current role, working more with philanthropy, local municipalities, nonprofits, and community stakeholders.
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Amandula Anderson works as Executive Director for the Indiana Region of IFF. Courtesy photo.
“What I tell my kids I do every day is I listen to people’s hopes and dreams and try to figure out how to make it happen,” Anderson says. “In reality, I get to listen to nonprofits and community folks share what their goals are, their strategic plans, city plans, and how we can help leverage the capital we have and the network I have in order to help make those things happen.”
IFF first opened an office in Indianapolis in 2012, and years later, expanded its reach to the Fort Wayne community. The first loan in Fort Wayne was The Landing, via The Model Group in 2018.
The Landing is one of Indiana’s oldest commercial districts which went from a thriving collection of warehouses, barbershops, taverns, offices, and banks to a blighted vacant shuttered space for decades.
The Model Group, a developer headquartered in Ohio, saw the potential in
restoring The Landing’s seven historic buildings into mixed-use development. IFF provided a $2.78 million loan toward the project, their second time partnering with The Model Group — the first was with a business district near downtown Cincinnati, the
Over-the-Rhine revitalization. The transformative $35 million, multi-phase project was also made possible by The Fort Wayne Downtown Development Trust and the City of Fort Wayne.
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Photo by Rachel Von Art.The Landing in downtown Fort Wayne, IN on February 7, 2025.
In 2020, Anderson spent time getting to know folks across Indiana, meeting with local foundations, real estate attorneys, and administration. These conversations led to connections that served as catalysts for change.
“What we really want to do in any community that we support is hear from the community about what their needs are — and then figure out ways that we can help them leverage that,” she says. “One of the projects that really kicked off the work was our involvement with The Landing, a redevelopment project, a beautiful space in downtown Fort Wayne.”
One of the initial goals of The Landing was to bring affordable housing back to the downtown area. The Landing’s 70 new residential units with a range of types, sizes, and rent levels, provided a welcomed increase in housing options within the dense urban core. Made possible by additional funding from federal and state historic tax credits, New Market tax credits, and City HOME funds, the development provides affordable housing for lower-income families.
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Rachel Von ArtAn affordable housing one bedroom apartment by Model Group on The Landing at 111 W. Columbia in Fort Wayne, IN on February 7, 2025.
Andersons says IFF’s initial goal is to work with nonprofits, but they do not shy away from working with sectors inside the community either.
“Early child care, affordable housing, federally-qualified health clinics, and schools — although those sectors aren’t nonprofits, they’re highly critical to a community’s ability to thrive,” she says. “We are able to provide gap financing to help them reach their capital sourcing needs.”
Anderson considers the Fort Wayne community suitable for IFF investments because of the city’s engaging, philanthropic history and its intentionality in working with CDFIs to create those connections.
“They’ve got the plans in place to say ‘this is what we want and desire to see,’” she says. “One of the hardest things about stepping into any community is making sure we’re not forcing capital on them, but that they have projects that can absorb that capital. Fort Wayne has a rich philanthropic community, a very engaged city that understands that it won’t be just one avenue to success. Having a friendly city that is open to all types of different sourcing is really critical to the work.”
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Photo by Rachel Von Art.The balcony view from an affordable housing one bedroom apartment by Model Group on The Landing at 111 W. Columbia in Fort Wayne, IN on February 7, 2025.
Bobby Maly is the CEO of The Model Group, the main organization behind The Landing’s transformation.
“We are in the development, construction, and property management business,” Maly says, “but get excited about being involved in neighborhood revitalization projects as well as social service projects with non-profit partners, helping them with a new facility, or addressing housing goals, and things like that.”
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Courtesy photo.Bobby Maly is the CEO of The Model Group. Maly says The Landing provided an opportunity for The Model Group to help solve a problem they consider is "right up their alley." The city block of seven historic buildings was located within a corridor the city hoped to breathe life back into.
“We’ve done a lot of historic rehab work and we’ve got a lot of experience repopulating commercial space in a way that feels distinctly local and gives unique character back to the place when you fill it with the right kind of spaces and commercial users in those spaces,” he says. “They had this problem and we felt we were uniquely suited to help them tackle it.”
The first phase was 70 residential units and 60,000 square feet of commercial space, the second and third phases called for more commercial buildings and additional apartments. They’re now preparing to start work on the third phase of the development.
“We’ve got some pretty great buildings to work with, a lot of really unique, very cool spaces,” Maly says. “Twenty-five percent of the apartments are affordable at 80% Average Median Income (AMI).”
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Photo by Rachel Von Art.Window details at a two bedroom market ready apartment ran by Model Group on The Landing at 131 W. Columbia in Fort Wayne, IN on February 7, 2025.
Most of The Model Group’s projects don’t lend themselves to such traditional funding sources as mortgages and debt. Working together with Community Development Funding Institutions, using tax credits, and being flexible in how these complex neighborhood revitalization tools work is crucial, Maly says.
“That’s why IFF is so critical, whether you’re talking about providing affordable housing, or helping nonprofits meet the needs of what their customers are — traditional bank sources almost never work for that, they’re pretty limited in their scope plan,” he says. “In my experience, we just can’t do that without community development entities like IFF. Our mission is to positively transform communities, and I think maybe 10% of what we do involves traditional financing, and 90% of it involves more complex financing structures that need partners like IFF to support.”
Another sector of IFF’s investments focus on early child care access. Within the Fort Wayne landscape, IFF has invested in the Bridge of Grace Early Childhood Initiative project and child care center.
“This is another great example of a community organization that has a vision, and steps their way through that vision and meeting the goals that they wanted to meet,” Anderson says.
After private fundraising and receiving New Market Tax credits from Cinnaire, both entities reached out to IFF to conduct a final feasibility study to ensure their plans met the needs of the community and could be sustainable. The Real Estate Solutions Indiana team provided the analysis between Nov. 2023 and Feb. 2024.
Kelli Packnett is the Vice President, Education and Engagement at Bridge of Grace Compassionate Ministries Center, an inner-city, bilingual, multicultural congregation in Southeast Fort Wayne.
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Photo by Rachel Von Art.Kelli Packnett, Vice President of Education & Engagement, reads a book to Kaisen, 8 months, in the Ambassador Enterprises Park at the Bridge of Grace Early Years Academy cared for by Westminster Preschools, 909 Elmrow Dr. Fort Wayne, IN on February 7, 2025.
“My main role is to support our education programs here at Bridge of Grace, working from the early years of child care all the way through our youth programming that we have,” Packnett says. “I also do a lot of work with engagement for funders and outside agencies.”
Packnett says IFF’s role in the feasibility study was crucial to take the next steps in their plan for the early child care center. IFF looked over their business plan, examined their budgets, and helped the funders understand that the project was viable.
“It’s a $16 million project for the building that includes a clinic, offices, and child care. It’s 30,000 square feet, and 20,000 square feet of that is the child care portion,” Packnett says.
The study helped show that within the region, there were many child care opportunities offered in individual home settings, but not many child care centers.
“We found there was really a need for a place that could service children who were really needing extra support because of developmental delays, and early intervention,” Packnett says. “The Early Years Academy was created in an effort to support families who are needing extra care.”
The child care center opened in August 2024, and is currently half-full, in the process of adding more staff to enable more student enrollment. Packnett says the need for affordable, high-quality child care is a nationwide issue.
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Photo by Rachel Von Art.The Ambassador Enterprises Park at the Bridge of Grace Early Years Academy cared for by Westminster Preschools, 909 Elmrow Dr. Fort Wayne, IN on February 7, 2025.
Part of what makes Bridge of Grace unique is that they accept students at just six weeks old, rather than two or 3-year-olds at other daycares or child care centers.
“Our infant rooms are full and our toddler rooms are almost full, showing that high need and that there are just not enough care options for those young ones,” Packnett says. “That’s often really due to the very expensive cost of care, because the ratio of adult to child is very low, making it expensive.”
Looking ahead, Packnett hopes Bridge of Grace can continue to provide high-quality, affordable care with great, warm, responsive caregivers who are making a difference in the development of children.
“Our main goal is that our children enter kindergarten ready for success. Many children can be two or three years behind,” she says. “Secondary to that, our real hope at Bridge of Grace is that we’re focused on breaking the cycle of poverty.”
By providing high-quality care and education to young children, it allows parents and caregivers to continue to work, excel in their careers, and impact the local economy. This then has a trickledown effect on all parties involved. Once that child grows up and has their own kids, that impact continues on to be multi-generational, says Packnett. IFF’s initial investment in a child care center, which in turn, invests in young people, has a truly impactful effect on generations to come.
This series, Block by Block, is supported by FHLBank Indianapolis, IFF, and CEDAM, and follows emerging and diverse developers building affordable housing in Michigan and Indiana.