Before an expansion that doubled the number of rooms, there was often a waitlist for families receiving treatment at Akron Children’s Hospital who wanted to stay at the nearby Ronald McDonald House.
A $10 million project, completed in 2018, allowed the house to add an additional 22 rooms, making it easier for families to get one.
“The impact on the number of families we could serve is so significant,” said Craig Wilson, the CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northeast Ohio.
The Ronald McDonald House expansion was funded, in part, with $2 million from a tax credit program administered by the Development Finance Authority of Summit County. Late last year, the DFA learned it would receive an additional $45 million in allocation authority from the federal government, allowing it to help fund other local organizations’ projects.
The New Markets Tax Credit program aims to add high-quality jobs and direct services to low-income communities, said Rachel Bridenstine, the DFA’s president. She called the new allocation a big deal for the region, saying it would allow the DFA to help fund high-impact work locally.
That’s helpful for families like Dan Cook’s, who benefited from the Ronald McDonald House investment. Cook’s two-year-old son, Henry, has been in the hospital since the fall. Henry received a bone marrow transplant following a leukemia diagnosis, and he and Cook have been staying at the Ronald McDonald House since early January. They expect to stay until at least the middle of February.
Cook’s family lives in Wayne County and are members of the Swartzentruber Amish community. He has 11 other children ranging in age from one to 15, so he’s still going back and forth with some frequency. But the Ronald McDonald House gives them a place to have visitors like Beverly Cook, who came with lunch that she warmed up in the shared kitchen.
“It means a lot,” Dan Cook said of the house. “That’s very nice for us.”
Tax credits can bring in additional money
The tax credit allocations allow organizations like the Ronald McDonald House, CHC Addiction Services or Signature Health — all of which received tax credit funding — to attract additional outside investment.
Wilson said that was the case for the Ronald McDonald House. While the organization had been fundraising for its planned expansion, the $2 million it got as a result of the DFA brought in other funding that helped put it over the top of its $10 million goal.
In addition to increasing the number of rooms to 42 from 20, the investment led to more hiring. The number of staff has more than doubled — to 16 people, from seven — and the number of room nights has increased, to 10,500 annually, from 6,500.
Without the tax credit funding, Wilson said, it’s likely the project would have been delayed.
“There’s always the question of where else the money would have come from,” Wilson said.
How does the tax credit program work?
Since 2011, the DFA has received $235 million in New Markets Tax Credits that have helped pay for 32 projects. Those include:
- Hilton Garden Inn in Akron’s East End development.
- BLU-Ttique Hotel in Akron’s downtown.
- JRayl Transport renovation in East Akron.
- Middlebury Commons mixed-use senior housing in Middlebury.
Together, the projects have created or retained more than 2,000 jobs in the region and provided wellness programs and social services to 500,000 people. While the DFA is centered in Summit County, its service area includes 34 counties across northern Ohio.
Those additional jobs include the family meal program coordinator at the Ronald McDonald House, a position Kealey Ludwig has held since this summer. Ludwig, who’s also studying culinary arts at Cuyahoga Community College, manages the meal calendar to ensure families who are staying at the house are being fed.
“I love what I do here,” she said while making sloppy Joes in the commercial kitchen that was part of the expansion. “It’s really fun. I like getting to know the families and where they come from.”
The tax credit program is complicated, and it relies on lenders buying the credits. Bridenstine said large banks typically pay more than 70 cents on the dollar to buy the credits, and the DFA can put that investment into debt for the projects.
After seven years, any equity left from the tax credit investment is meant to remain with the project.
The money is distributed following an application process, and the DFA looks for community benefit. Bridenstine said she expects it to take about two years to distribute the latest award; she expects to help fund about six projects.
“It does mean there’s an investment ability that wouldn’t happen otherwise,” she said.
More services as a result of investment
There were 142 awards granted as part of the New Markets Tax Credit program last year, Bridenstine said. Most went to national, multi-state or statewide organizations. Just 10% went to those that serve local markets, and the DFA was the only organization serving Ohio that received funding.
The process is complicated, Wilson said, but well worth it for the impact an award can have. As a result of it — and the expansion — more families with children getting treatment at Akron Children’s Hospital have a place to sleep nearby. Ronald McDonald House also provides meals, washes sheets and towels and gives families access to laundry facilities.
That’s a “big relief” for Cody Mansfield and his three-year-old son, Cai Beatty. The family lives about an hour south of Akron in Uhrichsville and expected to spend two nights at the Ronald McDonald House while Cai, who has spina bifida, was getting a sleep study at Akron Children’s Hospital.
As Mansfield and Cai snacked in the dining room, Mansfield said he appreciated having a place to stay while Cai was getting treatment. It was his second time doing so in Akron.
In addition to health care and other community facilities, manufacturing jobs are also high-priority projects, Bridenstine said. She said jobs that offer a living wage to people in low-income communities are the DFA’s focus.
“It’s really great for the Akron region,” Bridenstine said. “More quality jobs, quality services — that’s what it’s going to be.”