Community First! Village
Location: Austin, Texas
Closing Date: September 30, 2020
Project Description & Impact: Community First! Village is a 51-acre community that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for chronically homeless individuals in the city of Austin, Texas.
Closing Date: November 10, 2020
Client: Mobile Loaves & Fishes
Financing Tools Used: NMTC Financing
The Story Behind this Project
Founded in Austin, Texas, Mobile Loaves & Fishes is a social outreach ministry that began serving homeless individuals in the late 1990s through food trucks, but has expanded into three core programs: Truck Ministry, Community Works, and the Community First! Village.
The Community First! Village exists to serve neighbors in Austin who have been living on the streets, while also empowering the surrounding community into a lifestyle of service with the homeless. The integrated “campus” includes 500+ homes and other buildings, including a community cinema, car care, art house, woodworking shop, entrepreneur hub, community concessions and catering, Goodness Press Screen Printing, community forge, Topfer Family Health Resource Center, community market, Genesis Gardens Organic farm, aquaponics building, and memorial garden and prayer labyrinth.
