Affinity Neighborhoods
Company: Affinity Neighborhoods
Company Division/Group: Tacklind Design Consulting
Company Description: Ingrid Johanns and her partners actively reduce crime in neighborhoods. They coordinate investors to buy the worst houses in high crime neighborhoods, and then fix them up. These renovated homes are sold to people who thought they could never buy a home. In addition, they organize neighborhood cleanup events by partnering with several non-profits, churches and engaging with the local community.
Nomination Category: Stevie Awards for Women Entrepreneur Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best New Company of the Year
Nomination Title: A New Approach to Real Estate Investing
Tell the story about what the nominated company achieved during the eligibility period (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Affinity Neighborhoods is on a mission to reduce crime in neighborhoods. They coordinate investors to buy the worst houses in high crime neighborhoods, and then they fix them up. These renovated homes are sold to people who thought they could never buy a home. In addition, they organize HUGE neighborhood cleanup events where they paint neighbors houses and clean up trash. They look beyond their individual properties to see what else they can do to support the transformation of these neighborhoods. They do this in partnership with several non-profits, churches and engaging with the local community. After their first project in Oakland, CA they targeted Long Beach, Compton and other areas of Los Angeles.
List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: List each link on a separate line, begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.website.com]. NOTE: You may submit supporting materials for your nomination offline, but only judges who request them will see them:
LA TIMES: http://www.latimes.com/classified/realestate/news/la-re-fixup25jul25,0,3303571.story?coll=la-class-realestate-news
(This was a full page feature article in the Sunday Real Estate section.)
CNN Money:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/07/15/real_estate/investment_prop/affinity/
Affinity Neighborhoods Web Site:
http://www.affinityneighborhoods.com
Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography of the leader of the nominated company:
Ms. Johanns has been investing in real estate since 1999. In 2003, she was the President and co-founder of Affinity Properties, LLC – a real estate investment company with $7 million in total assets. She has expertise in the areas of strategic planning, operations and the management of large teams and projects. Ms. Johanns studied Philosophy and Mathematics at Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN.