Building homes, backing businesses: Valley CDC emerges as major force in region

NORTHAMPTON — From its small headquarters on the first floor of a multistory affordable housing building on Pleasant Street, a small group of employees at the Valley Community Development Corporation, or Valley CDC, are playing an increasingly important role in the arenas of housing and economic development.

The nonprofit, founded 37 years ago, has emerged in recent years as a major player for its work in developing affordable housing and for the assistance it provides to hundreds of existing and fledgling businesses across Hampshire, Hampden and Franklin counties.

In Northampton alone, Valley CDC has provided assistance to more than 80 businesses over the last year, while at the same time moving ahead with development of multiple affordable housing projects. The organization currently owns six properties across the city, with several more developments in the works, including most recently at the 33 King St. property in the heart of downtown that once housed the Hampshire County Registry of Deeds.

This work will add to its growing portfolio of accomplishments that includes building or preserving over 400 affordable homes across Northampton, Easthampton, Amherst and Hadley.

Business assistance

One of Valley CDC’s core missions is to help small businesses in a variety of ways, from consulting to marketing and securing grant funding.

Program Director Sarah Sargent said that in fiscal 2025, the organization helped clients receive over $2.5 millions in loans and secure $2.8 million worth of grants, as well as provide several other means of assistance to established and fledgling businesses.

“We’re doing everything from helping clients create the startup and who’s looking for help with a business plan and financing, to helping existing business who is looking for some additional cash for expansion purposes or to make a move to a different location,” Sargent said. “That’s the wide range of what we have been doing when it comes to the actual work that we’re doing when it comes to the actual, individual work that we’re doing with clients.”

Joseph Kress is one such client working with Valley CDC to help run his business, Kress run’s Augustine’s Pizza Club, a Neapolitan-style pizzeria that he started near the end of May. The pizzeria is based in Northampton but also serves meals at Carr’s Ciderhouse in Hadley on Friday and Saturday, as well as catering for private events.

“The CDC have just helped us get off the ground with understanding the back end, helping us understand how to run our books, be autonomous so I can focus on making the food,” Kress said. “We keep checking in with them, so there’s an ongoing resource for us.”

Kress became aware of the work Valley CDC does with business due to the fortunate circumstance of being neighbors with Sargent, who told him about the work she did with the organization. He said it was a perfect example of the organization’s “friendly neighborhood” approach to helping local business.

“It’s the pinnacle of what that is, I mean you’re my literal neighbor,” Kress said. “It encapsulated that spirit that I think is the Pioneer Valley at it’s best.”

Originally founded in 1988, Valley CDC has seen significant expansion under Alexis Breiteneicher, who became its executive director in 2021. Breiteneicher’s appointment to the position coincided with recovery efforts from the COVID-19 pandemic, which left many businesses struggling and seeking assistance to stay afloat.

“We used to just have a couple of part-time staff and maybe one full-time person. Almost everybody now is full time,” said Breiteneicher, who also said the number of staff has doubled in the last four years. “We’re doing the work to meet the demand.” She said the organization currently has 11 full-time employees.

Nearly five years later, worries about inflation have been compounded by worries regarding new tariffs on foreign imports imposed under the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. Breiteneicher said that Valley CDC has worked with its clients to analyze their finances and understanding ongoing economic changes.

“Especially at the start of this year, some are very concerned about the impact that tariffs may or may not have on them, depending on what [tariffs] went into place or what didn’t,” she said. “We’re trying to help them be flexible and pivot when they need to, but also be aware that so much is changing quickly and that there aren’t always answers to why one thing is better this month than the other.”

Justin Brown, who owns the furniture and local art store Assemble in downtown Northampton, said that his store’s operations had not been directly affected by tariffs, but that many of the local artists he purchases goods from could see higher costs of producing their works, leading to price increases.

“It certainly has had an effect on different supply chain issues for sure. I think that will continue to trickle down as the smaller makers I work with start to realize the increases that they’re going see from their materials costs,” he said.

Brown, who has worked with Valley CDC since opening Assemble at its current location on Main Street, said they had taught him skills related to inventory management as a way to navigate current conditions.

“I’ve learned a lot more about doing smaller orders, that then can go right on the sales floor, versus a bunch of it being put in the back room to sell over time,” he said.

Affordable housing

Since 2023, Valley CDC has also significantly expanded its operations with regards to affordable housing development in the city. Prior to that year, Breiteneicher said the organization was too small to receive state and federal tax credits, limiting the size of potential developments.

But as the organization has grown, it has been able to qualify for the credits and to receive a larger loans for housing development. One key source of funding is from the Community Economic Assistance Development Corporation, or CEDAC, which provides financing to nonprofit developers in the state like Valley CDC.

“The world of nonprofit housing development can be really confusing,” Breiteneicher said. “Environmental testing, architecture, civil engineering, stormwater, all of that work has to happen before we then go to the state to ask for money.”

Planned properties under Valley CDC include 30 apartment units at 27 Crafts Ave., mere feet away from City Hall, and Prospect Place, a 60-unit development built on the site of a former nursing home at 737 Bridge Road, expected to be completed by the end of the fall.

Several state officials, including Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities Director Ed Augustus, were on hand during the groundbreaking for the Prospect Place Development, signaling just how important the state sees such developments in addressing an ongoing housing crisis.

“Not every community is as welcoming as Northampton is, and a lot of credit to them for recognizing that an important part of the housing ecosystem is to have affordable places for families,” Augustus said in an interview during the groundbreaking.

Northampton Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra also praised the efforts of Valley CDC to build more affordable housing in the city, citing the Crafts Avenue project, in which 20 of the apartments for those individuals making less than $18,000 a year with a preference for un-housed individuals.

“The city doesn’t develop property, but we do have these partnerships and we have ways that we contribute to their projects,” Sciarra said. “It’s a really lovely relationship where we’ve been able to come up with some really creative ideas.”

Valley CDC’s latest venture, the former Registry of Deeds building at 33 King St., is done in partnership with fellow nonprofit The Community Builders. The property will be redeveloped into two buildings, one run by Valley CDC and the other by TCB, for a total of 92 apartment units. Under the terms of the provisional development agreement announced in July, the city will retain nominal control of the property as part of a due diligence phase, as the new owners begin the permitting process for the new buildings.

“It’s a really prime location, as we often want to site things where people can walk to services, where they can be a part of a community,” Breiteneicher said. “Most of our tenants do not have cars, so transportation access is critical.”

Carolyn Misch, the city’s Planning & Sustainability director, said property development had become harder in the city due a variety of economic factors.

“The cost of construction has just continued to skyrocket, and it’s not just labor and materials, but it’s financing. It’s tariffs. It’s interest rates,” Misch said in an interview. “All of those are making it more difficult for both the affordable housing developers as well as the private market to get anything off the ground. So that’s where, even among the housing providers, these partnerships can help each other to make sure that those housing units get realized.”

Breiteneicher said that a proper supply of affordable housing, along with more housing in general, was critical to support local communities.

“You can’t just have super expensive, market-rate housing and you can’t just have subsidized housing,” she said. “You need a mix of all the things.”

In addition to housing development, Valley CDC also has a program that provides assistance for new homeowners, such as counseling on how to prevent foreclosure and also next steps following a home purchase. Breiteneicher said it wasn’t uncommon for programs for new homeowners and programs for small business owners to overlap.

“People may come in here because they want to buy a home, and when we look over their finances we notice they have a small business,” Breiteneicher said. “It all goes hand in hand.”