Jackie Joyner-Kersee FAN Innovation Center Receives 2025 METRO QLICI of the Year Award

Impact Marketplace joins our partners in celebrating the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Food, Agriculture, and Nutrition (FAN) Innovation Center, which has been named the 2025 Novogradac Metropolitan QLICI of the Year.

This award honors one of the nation’s most impactful New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) projects — a community-led investment that expands food access, youth education, and workforce opportunity in East St. Louis.

Read the official announcement on Novogradac.com →

The Novogradac QLICI Awards recognize NMTC projects that deliver measurable community benefit through innovative financing and cross-sector collaboration. The FAN Innovation Center exemplifies exactly that — a public–private partnership demonstrating how capital can be structured to serve people and strengthen place.

For the Impact Marketplace team, this recognition reflects what we see every day in our work: when community vision is met with the right financial tools, transformation follows.

“This project shows what the NMTC program does best — it connects mission-driven leadership with the tools to make long-term change possible,” said Jeff Frankel. “The FAN Center is more than a building; it’s a blueprint for community-centered investment.”

Located in East St. Louis, Illinois, the JJK FAN Innovation Center was developed in partnership with the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation, national CDEs, and investors committed to food security and economic inclusion.

The Center integrates:

• Urban agriculture labs and demonstration growing spaces

• Nutrition and culinary training for local youth and families

• Workforce programs in food service and agri-tech

• Community access to healthy food and entrepreneurship resources

Together, these elements are redefining how residents access opportunity in a community long overlooked by traditional investment.

Impact Marketplace helped structure the NMTC financing and coordinate among multiple CDEs and investors — ensuring the project met both its financial and community impact goals. Our team collaborated closely with partners to quantify outcomes such as job creation, workforce training, and food access improvements — strengthening the case for NMTC investment and long-term accountability.

This collaborative process not only helped close the transaction but also built a framework for future impact measurement — a key factor in the project’s national recognition.

“We’re proud to see this project recognized on a national stage,” said Matt Drinen, Principal at Impact Marketplace. “It represents the kind of creative, community-grounded development that the NMTC program was designed for.”

The JJK FAN Center illustrates how NMTC investments have evolved beyond traditional real estate or job metrics. It demonstrates how the program can drive meaningful results in public health, education, and food systems — creating sustainable pathways to opportunity.

Its success also underscores the power of partnerships between mission-oriented nonprofits, financial institutions, and community development entities — a model that can be replicated nationwide to expand access and economic mobility.

As the FAN Innovation Center continues to grow its programs, its impact will ripple far beyond the city limits of East St. Louis. The project stands as a reminder that NMTC-financed developments don’t just build infrastructure — they build access, inclusion, and opportunity.

Impact Marketplace is honored to have played a role in this journey and congratulates all the partners whose dedication made it possible.

• Novogradac 2025 QLICI Awards

• Jackie Joyner-Kersee Foundation

• How NMTC financing drives community impact