Community

Community

Supporting Incubator Kitchens

Food brings people together. And small food businesses are at the heart of our communities. In 2022, Lake Trust provided a $10,000 award to the Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen and hosted a series of educational sessions to support the continued growth of local food startups.

The Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen provides an accessible space for food businesses to take their startup to the next level. The funds from Lake Trust provided low-cost rental hours to makers, purchase shared equipment, and keep the kitchen open for longer operating hours.

The Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen has been attracting entrepreneurs from around the Ypsilanti and greater Washtenaw County area, many of whom are women and minorities.

To support the continued growth of these startups, Lake Trust hosted the first of a series of educational sessions at Growing Hope Incubator.

In these educational sessions, attendants learned about Lake Trust’s microloan as well as getting information from community partners, including Washtenaw Community College's Entrepreneurship Center and Michigan’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) housed at Washtenaw Community College. Virtual sessions with SBDC and our Merchant Service Representative will continue to provide additional support.

Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen Impact
  • The $10,000 award to Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen will: provide low-cost rental hours to makers, purchase shared equipment, and keep the kitchen open for longer operating hours.
  • The Incubator Kitchen has been attracting local entrepreneurs and providing educational sessions for startups to gain knowledge, resources, and continue to grow.

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Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen1

Our support of Turn Up the AMP! in Brighton, helped provide 1,800 meals to Livingston County residents. We asked community members attending the free event to bring non-perishable food items or donate to Gleaners Community Food Bank.

“Growing Hope's relationship with Lake Trust has helped to facilitate empowering relationships between Growing Hope and more than two dozen small food-related businesses. Over the past year, we've seen many of these businesses grow immensely,” shares Julius, Executive Director at Growing Hope, “Ypsilanti's food scene is reawakening before our eyes and the Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen is near the heart of it.”

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Incubator Kitchen member making a cake

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Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen1

Our support of Turn Up the AMP! in Brighton, helped provide 1,800 meals to Livingston County residents. We asked community members attending the free event to bring non-perishable food items or donate to Gleaners Community Food Bank.

“Growing Hope's relationship with Lake Trust has helped to facilitate empowering relationships between Growing Hope and more than two dozen small food-related businesses. Over the past year, we've seen many of these businesses grow immensely,” shares Julius, Executive Director at Growing Hope, “Ypsilanti's food scene is reawakening before our eyes and the Growing Hope Incubator Kitchen is near the heart of it.”

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Finding the comfort of home, a little easier.

Learn more at:
Model D Media1
Avalon Housing1

Finding the comfort of home, a little easier.

Your home is where you rest at the end of the day, a place to make your own. And there’s nothing quite like the feeling of comfort your home can bring. But with rising costs and a lack of affordable housing options, the dream of home can be difficult to reach – and even harder to sustain – for many Michigan families. Because of this great need, Lake Trust worked together with like-minded community partners to increase our affordable housing advocacy efforts in 2022.

Avalon Housing Project

In 2022, Lake Trust began collaborating with community partners to support the Avalon Housing Project in Ann Arbor. Avalon was founded to provide for the housing needs of those experiencing homelessness. They were selected by the Ann Arbor Housing Commission to co-develop a building on Catherine Street. This six-story, 68-unit affordable housing development will feature an art gallery and small business incubator on the ground floor. Lake Trust is collaborating with members of the Avalon team. They continue to work to support this project as it goes through the Ann Arbor Housing process and are excited to see how it advances in 2023.

Habitat for Humanity

The mission of Habitat for Humanity of Michigan is to build a world where everyone has a decent place to live. Through our strategic partnership, we developed a unique home loan product with the goal of not only assisting Habitat homeowners in their goal to achieve homeownership, but in a way that will help Habitat homebuyers stay in their homes. This unique home loan doesn’t look at credit and helps to keep taxes low. It also allows homeowners to pay based on the home purchase price instead of the appraised value of the property.

Marwood Apartment Project

The Marwood Apartment Project consists of a 71-unit mixed-income apartment community in the North End neighborhood of Detroit. It includes 10 efficiency apartments, 44 one-bedroom, and 5 two-bedroom apartments in the renovated, historic Marwood Apartments building. In addition, 6 new 2-bedroom townhouses and 6 new construction 2-bedroom apartments were also completed. The Marwood Apartment Project received a $500,000 Affordable Housing Program (AHP) grant from Lake Trust in 2020. Construction was ongoing through 2022 and the project was officially completed in January of 2023.

West Boston Apartment Project

Located in the Boston-Edison neighborhood in Detroit, the West Boston Apartments are a 27-unit complex with 18 one-bedroom units and 9 two-bedroom units. Develop Detroit partnered with us to secure affordable housing grant funding from Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis (FHLBI) for the greatly needed rehabilitation and renovation of this building. The $320,000 grant, plus a $10,000 donation from us, supported an updated HVAC system, new roof, sidewalk repairs, and more. Construction began in 2021 and was completed in 2022.

Lake Trust continues to support affordable housing initiatives in our communities. Helping our partners build sustainable solutions to the problem of homelessness, including providing more affordable housing, and home loan products that help keep people in their homes.

Learn more at:
Model D Media1
Avalon Housing1

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Empowering small businesses at Middle Village.

In late 2021, Lake Trust became the exclusive sponsor of Middle Village Micro Market. Hosted by Downtown Lansing Inc., Middle Village empowers small business owners to take the next step in maturing their business into their own retail space.

Middle Village merchants have the opportunity to work in a downtown retail space at below market rate rent. While there, they are given a chance to test their concepts, perfect their products, and grow their brand and customer base. In addition, merchants receive small business training, tech support, weekly financial counseling, marketing support, and other resources.

Middle Village also offers the Lansing area customers another opportunity to Lift Up Local, by shopping in their downtown business district. The Lansing Lift Up Local movement began in 2020 to support local small businesses struggling to stay open during the pandemic. We continue to support this effort to keep our communities strong by supporting small businesses.

Throughout 2022, Lake Trust partnered with Michigan Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to offer year-round small business training and resources not only to those businesses at Middle Village, but to any small business. The training sessions included subjects such as branding, business banking basics, and information about business loans. These training sessions create a dynamic environment for small business owners to learn together and share their experiences. It is an important way that we build collaboration with organizations for the greater good of our communities.

Middle Village Impact
  • 100% of Middle Village Micro Market graduates opened storefronts in the Greater Lansing Region. 80% of them in downtown Lansing.
  • Middle Village Micro Market: encouraged other retail locations to invest in Downtown Lansing, expanded night and weekend business hours throughout the district, and expanded foot traffic in downtown Lansing.

Learn more about Middle Village:
Fox 47 News1

“Middle Village is a space that will empower the small-business owner while offering another opportunity for customers to Lift Up Local in the downtown business district.”

— Cathleen Edgerly, Downtown Lansing Inc. Executive Director

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Middle Village

Learn more about Middle Village:
Fox 47 News1

“Middle Village is a space that will empower the small-business owner while offering another opportunity for customers to Lift Up Local in the downtown business district.”

— Cathleen Edgerly, Downtown Lansing Inc. Executive Director

Advocating for Michigan families

Read more about Michigan’s CDFI grant at:
Michigan Business1

“By coming together as a broad coalition to coordinate outreach, state CDFIs and advocates enhanced awareness and support for their impact in making safe and affordable financial services available to everyone in Michigan.”

— Cathie Mahon, Inclusiv president & CEO

Spurring economic development in our communities.

In 2022, Lake Trust continued to serve as a Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI. That means that Lake Trust was recognized by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a financial institution that is expanding economic opportunity in low-income communities. Between January 1 and June 30, 2022, Lake Trust had originated $95 million in qualifying CDFI loans.

These CDFI loans originated by Lake Trust helped to spur economic development in our communities by providing access to affordable financial products and services for consumers and businesses in underserved Michigan neighborhoods.

In June 2022, Lake Trust was one of 26 CDFI certified credit unions out of over 200 credit unions in Michigan. The designation as a CDFI allowed Lake Trust to receive grants and participate in specialized programs.

To date, Lake Trust has been awarded four separate CDFI grants for a total of $4.2 million. Thus far, CDFI grant funds have been deployed primarily through consumer and small business purpose lending, helping to provide necessary capital to those in underserved communities.

Micro Business Loan Program

Lake Trust’s initial CDFI grant allowed for the development of the Micro Business Loan Program. The Micro Business Loan Program allows Lake Trust to bridge the gap for small businesses trying to establish themselves in our communities, especially those in underserved areas. This has allowed us to grant micro loans to our member business owners who wouldn’t otherwise have access to financing.

An active role as a CDFI

In 2022, Lake Trust also joined a CDFI panel at the CUNA Government Affairs Conference where the Lake Trust Government Affairs and Finance Teams helped design and guide a program that would dedicate $75 million to the state general fund for grants to Michigan CDFI’s.

"The establishment of a Michigan state CDFI Fund is the exciting result of collaboration across all sectors of CDFIs," said Inclusiv president & CEO Cathie Mahon. “These unprecedented state-level resources and the structure of Michigan's CDFI Fund should serve as a model for state-level CDFI efforts across the country."

Read more about Michigan’s CDFI grant at:
Michigan Business1

“By coming together as a broad coalition to coordinate outreach, state CDFIs and advocates enhanced awareness and support for their impact in making safe and affordable financial services available to everyone in Michigan.”

— Cathie Mahon, Inclusiv president & CEO

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Advocating for Michigan families.

Throughout 2022, Lake Trust continued our efforts to reduce the harm that payday lenders can cause to Michigan families. Specifically, by supporting Michiganders for Fair Lending ballot measure that would cap the interest rate charged on payday loans at 36%.

Currently, payday lenders can charge very high fees that can result in a cycle of increasing debt that further strains our communities. This type of lending is considered predatory because payday lenders are offering what seems like a quick solution for people already in financial stress. Although the ballot measure fell short on the number of valid signatures, it received strong support from Michiganders, advancing this initiative further than any other statutory amendment in 2022.

With the support of organizations like Lake Trust, the Coalition for Responsible Lending is larger and stronger than ever. Their support includes local credit unions, chambers of commerce, social justice and advocacy organizations, community development organizations and more.

Our work in this area will continue in 2023, helping to protect Michigan families and support financial wellbeing.

Learn more about the risks of payday loans and your rights at:
Michigan Department of Attorney General1

Learn more about the risks of payday loans and your rights at:
Michigan Department of Attorney General1

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