LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--PeerStreet, an investment platform that drives wealth creation through real estate, today announced that it is launching a new charitable initiative — The Evolving Neighborhood Uplift Fund or the E.N.U.F. project — to create a more purposeful and sustainable way to invest in real estate entrepreneurs from underserved communities across the country.
The goal of the E.N.U.F. project is simple — to equip aspiring real estate entrepreneurs with the tools and capital they need to invest in real estate projects and, in doing so, invest in their communities. Candidates that are accepted to the E.N.U.F. project will receive mentorship from PeerStreet’s network of real estate experts and, when the E.N.U.F. project participants identify qualifying projects, the capital needed will be funded out of an innovative, charitable giving vehicle, hosted by the Tides Foundation. Profits from the projects made via the charitable giving vehicle will be reinvested into more projects and entrepreneurs. The hope is to create a reinforcing wealth creation cycle for small businesses, job creation and property ownership in underserved communities. Ashley Flucas, General Partner of Flucas Ventures and a founding advisor to the E.N.U.F. project shares the vision for bridging the wealth gap for underserved communities. “I know first-hand that real estate is a powerful economic driver to accomplish this goal and helping others to be able to grow wealth through real estate is very exciting,” said Flucas.
Supporting real estate entrepreneurs has always been a part of the PeerStreet mission. When individuals invest in loans on PeerStreet.com, their capital is distributed through a network of small business lenders to real estate entrepreneurs around the country. Those real estate entrepreneurs use that money to buy properties, fix them up, then rent them out or sell them to homebuyers. PeerStreet investors earn interest on their money, but they also inject money into communities, support small businesses, help create jobs, and provide better housing options to community members. To date, PeerStreet has allocated approximately $4 billion of capital to real estate entrepreneurs around the country.
“In a way, we’ve created a wealth-generating machine,” said Brew Johnson, CEO of PeerStreet. “At the same time, there is a massive wealth gap in America and the numbers are just shocking: the average white family is ten times wealthier than the average black family. To make matters worse, because black families on average have fewer assets, it’s harder for them to access capital to start creating wealth. It’s a negative flywheel. The goal with E.N.U.F. is to reverse that flywheel.”
The E.N.U.F. project will bring together mentors and advisors with different areas of expertise that are passionate about helping others create wealth. Founding mentors include Ashley Flucas, Cheta Ozougwu, Ndukwe Kalu, Jason Lewis and others. When PeerStreet approached Cheta Ozougwu, Head of Originations of Tidal Loans LLC to become a mentor, his passion for the mission was palpable. “With the disparity in resources and knowledge available to black investors, it is truly a blessing that PeerStreet co-founder and CEO Brew Johnson is so passionate about this cause. Tidal Loans shares that passion. Tidal Loans’ main goal in its involvement with E.N.U.F is to be a part of a program that inspires and enables our next generation of black real estate investors,” said Ozougwu.
Entrepreneurs, community organizations, donors and investors interested in getting involved with the E.N.U.F. project can visit www.peerstreet.com/enuf for more information. To get involved please reach out to us at enuf@peerstreet.com.
ABOUT PEERSTREET
PeerStreet is a technology platform that democratizes access to real estate debt investments. The company’s unique technology-driven marketplace enables investors to diversify their capital in a fixed-income asset class that had previously been difficult for individuals to access.
Loans are sourced from vetted private lenders throughout the United States who often have regional real estate expertise and long-term borrower relationships. PeerStreet enables these lenders to expand their lending capital, empowering them to make more loans, which flows through to borrowers who in turn improve their local communities—one house at a time. As of October 2020, PeerStreet has had over $3.9 billion transacted on its platform. PeerStreet was founded in 2014 and is backed by such renowned venture capitalists as Andreeson Horowitz, World Innovation Lab and Thomvest.
