Capital for Change Celebrates 10 Years of Expanded Operations

“To go into Bloomfield and to an all-white neighborhood to pose as the buyer of a house and buy it, and then sign the deed over to an African American family, that is you know something that is hard to fathom that had to happen in the 1960s, but it is true,” State Rep. and Connecticut Speaker of the House Matt Ritter said.

Ritter was recounting the history of his grandparents, George and Pat Ritter, who worked to dismantle discriminatory housing practices in Connecticut by helping establish the Connecticut Housing Investment Fund. As reported by Connecticut Public, these efforts laid the groundwork for what has now evolved into Capital for Change, a nonprofit and Community Development Financial Institution that is celebrating 10 years of expanded operations.

The organization marks a decade since three distinct entities merged to consolidate their impact on the state's housing market. This consolidation brought together the Connecticut Housing Investment Fund, the Greater New Haven Community Loan Fund, and the Community Capital fund, which focused on the Fairfield County area.

The merger was not designed to simply streamline operations or reduce staff, according to Chief Executive Officer Diane Smith. Instead, the goal was to ensure that the diverse services provided by the original groups remained intact while scaling their reach.

Capital for Change has moved significant capital into Connecticut’s residential sectors over the last ten years. The organization’s impact is reflected in both the scale of construction and the volume of funding deployed to support low-to-moderate income communities.

Metric	Value
Housing units constructed	More than 25,000
Total contribution to projects	$376 million

The work encompasses several critical pillars of community stability, including small business and economic development, neighborhood stabilization, and affordable housing. By providing gap funding, the organization helps bridge the financial divides that often stall essential development projects.

For Speaker Ritter, the mission of the organization is deeply personal. He noted that his grandparents’ dedication to housing equity and affordability has fundamentally shaped his own values and how he interacts with the world.

Looking ahead, the organization is shifting its focus toward a specific niche in the Connecticut real estate market. Rather than solely pursuing massive new developments, Capital for Change intends to prioritize smaller affordable developments and homeownership opportunities.

This strategy targets the existing housing stock found in center cities and first-ring towns. These areas often contain two- or three-family homes and smaller apartment buildings that require significant upkeep to remain viable.

“That seems at this point is really our sweet spot,” Smith said. “A lot of Connecticut’s, particularly in the center cities and the first-ring towns, have a lot of this stock where they have two or three family homes, they’ve got smaller apartment buildings that need repair, both nonprofit and for-profit owners who want to keep these in good repair.”

By focusing on these smaller-scale assets, the organization aims to support both nonprofit and for-profit owners who are committed to maintaining the integrity of older residential buildings. This approach addresses the immediate need for neighborhood stabilization through the preservation of existing housing infrastructure.