My company does a lot of work in Newark, New Jersey

For example, at my cousin’s wedding last month an old high school friend of mine said, “Hey, so what are you doing now? I heard you’re a nurse practitioner, right?” A nurse practitioner… really?

While I don’t get mad or upset at whatever profession my friends and family insert into the brackets, I do get a kick out of what they think I’m doing. Over the last year or so I’ve heard that I’m a full-time lawyer, university administrator, teacher, website guy, state employee, writer, and – of course – nurse practitioner.

None of these professions – while exciting and interesting – are correct. So I thought I’d take a minute to explain what it is that I “do” at my full-time job.

I work for a nonprofit loan fund – a Community Development Financial Institution (a CDFI). The company I work for focuses on what we term “underserved” communities throughout New Jersey. In other words, we do a lot of work in underserved geographic areas like Newark, Camden, Asbury Park, Trenton, etc. However, we have a broad definition of “community” to include groups of people such as folks with physical and developmental disabilities. From that perspective, we’ve done a lot of work in areas that are traditionally considered affluent like Manalapan, Budd Lake, Eatontown, East Hanover, etc. And we also help traditionally underserved industries such as charter schools, early care centers, the supportive housing industry, etc.

Two quick definitions before I talk about what I “do” at my job. First, when I suggest that my company “works” in an area or an industry, it means that we offer competitive or low-cost financing for development projects. For example, when we work to provide supportive housing for folks with developmental disabilities, I’m suggesting that my company provides a loan to an on-the-ground service organization to purchase a home and use it to provide housing for the developmentally disabled. Second, when I say that an area, group of people, or industry is traditionally “underserved,” I’m suggesting that there has been – historically – a disinvestment of private money from that area, group of people, or industry. Not a disinvestment of public money (i.e. taxpayer dollars); a disinvestment of private money.

That’s a very important distinction. My company receives no taxpayer dollars nor does it seek taxpayer dollars. Instead, we take investments from private organizations, individuals, and like-minded nonprofit organizations and utilize those dollars to make loans to the underserved.

Make sense? I hope so. Back to what I “do” on a daily basis.

My current title (though it’s supposed to change in the coming weeks) is Lending Officer. If I worked at a traditional bank, most would assume that a Lending Officer translates into being an underwriter or Relationship Manager. In the CDFI industry, Lending Officers are so much more… Yes, I’m the guy who underwrites loans. However, I also manage relationships with our borrowers, close loans, act as a new business development officer, manage a multi-million dollar federal grant, serve as a communications and public relations officer, act as the company’s charter school specialist, seek out new investment and grant opportunities for the company, make presentations on behalf of the organization, work with researchers on finding new ways to solve community problems, serve as a problem loan work out officer – I could go on.

So what do I “do” on a daily basis? Well, a little bit of everything, really. Yesterday, I spent a lot of time reviewing submitted material from a possible client who wants to borrow over $4 million to purchase an old Catholic school building and use it as space for a charter school. This information includes test scores, the school’s financial history, operating projections, resumes and bios of the major staff members, awards won by the school, and so much more.

The day before, though, I spent the bulk of my day contacting attorneys and asking them to finalize different legal documents for loans that my company closed (i.e. funded) over the last twelve months. Many people don’t realize this, but there are an enormous amount of documents that need to be executed before a house can be purchased, a construction job can take place, or any type of financing can be advanced. Well, one of my jobs is to make sure that all of those documents are signed and in order before funds go out the door. The problem, though, is that once the documents are signed, they typically take between six and twelve months to work through the different attorneys’ offices and recording areas. So when I close a loan, I have to make sure that those documents are in order and, eventually, on their way to my office.

I hope that this entry gives my friends and family who read my blog a brief example of what it is that I do all day. Sure, I could get into all of the ancillary jobs that I’ve set up for myself outside of my day job (the websites, the teaching, the consulting, the volunteer work), but that’s for another entry. If I wrote this entry correctly, then the next time I see someone who reads my blog and the topic of professions comes up, they’ll have an idea of what it is that I do… and it won’t be nurse practitioner!

If you are interested in a job in which you can also make a difference, check out online social work courses.

However, one of the big problems that I’ve been finding in the community development field is that there is a bias against the unknown when it comes to defining “community.” Many of the industry leaders in this part of the nation (who, by the way, should let their younger staff have a larger role in strategic planning) have a biased view against using their scarce resources to help communities in the rural and suburban parts of the state. The idea is that since there is some private money in those areas, then the development projects in those areas can be financed by the local banks which are holding those private dollars. The problem is that this doesn’t happen and since it doesn’t happen, there is a drought of development to provide services to underserved communities in these types of areas.

In other words, if you’re not working on a project that is a multi-unit low-income housing development in extremely urbanized areas like Essex or Camden counties, then your projects probably aren’t going to get favorable rates or terms – if they get any at all. I saw this happen first hand today. My company puts its dollars into projects where underserved communities are provided with vital services. One of these services is education and the school choice movement. A project to provide a substantial loan to a school in northwest New Jersey (think near the Poconos in Pennsylvania) was shot down because one of the decision makers said, “This isn’t in Newark or Irvington or any type of urban market that we know something about. It’s off in a part of the state where we don’t know what’s going on.”

I’m sorry, folks, but that’s crap and it’s not good enough for the community development field. The scarce resources that are allocated to this industry either through private investment or through public funds cannot ALL be funneled to the Newarks and Camdens of the world. There are a variety of underserved communities around this state and this country and not all of them are concrete jungles.

It’s time that the urban bias in community development was addressed head on and eliminated from the industry.

In particular, Schmitz says the following:

By virtue of their low pay, long hours, and high-intensity nature, campaigns are always filled with young people. But the Obama campaign recognized and empowered young leadership…The campaign’s all-hands-on-deck approach meant that the top fundraisers and policy advisors – whether they were Goldman Sachs partners, Hollywood stars, or law professors – were expected to canvass door to door and be managed by 22-year-olds. They did so, reporting for duty enthusiastically and building respectful and supportive relationships with these young field organizers rather than questioning them or taking over.

Ah! Talk about music to the young, nonprofit professional’s ears! The biggest problem that I’ve found so far in New Jersey’s nonprofit sector is the entrenchment – for better or for worse – of aging leaders. I cannot stress enough the phrase “for better or for worse” in this statement, though. There are people like Msgr. William Linder in Newark who should be involved in community development at all costs and at all times! This man is a saint for the work that he’s done to bring much needed services to the underserved communities of Newark. The same is true of so many dedicated, older professionals in the state’s nonprofit sector.

However, in my work I find many organizations that have a tremendous glut of young talent who are suppressed under an old style of management. What’s more concerning is that in New Jersey you rarely find high-level executive positions in the nonprofit field being filled by the under 35-year-old crowd. And that’s a shame because it pushes talented folks out of the nonprofit arena and into the private sector. You do see younger folks being named Executive Vice Presidents and Directors of this or that program, but that’s generally in young organizations with less than five employees and they are usually organizations that aren’t too substantial.

What I’ve seen in my own experiences are the elevation of inept individuals with little-to-no leadership skills. Actually – let’s just say that there are NO leadership skills! Anyway, reading Schmitz’s article was nice because it reminded me of how things are supposed to be.