Colusa Community Indian Council operates six healthcare facilities in Colusa County, Calif., a Central Valley community with 26,000 residents. In addition to providing medical care to members of the Cachil DeHe Band of Wintun Indians and to the broader community, CCIC offers a range of other programs and services, including housing and infrastructure development programs, economic development, financial assistance for education, youth enrichment activities and early childhood education programs.

CCIC also manages its own business enterprises, like the Colusa Casino Resort, Colusa Indian Energy, and a Tribal Utility Authority. It also operates wastewater and water treatment plants, maintains roads, and supports sustainable community development activities.

CCIC is renovating a former grocery store building in Colusa to create the Valley Oak Specialty Clinic, while also building the new Sycamore Pediatrics Center. The combined $26.5 million project will help fill gaps in this rural community’s health care services, covering a wide range of medical specialties, from internal medicine and cardiology to orthopedics, optometry and behavioral health. The pediatric center will provide comprehensive care for children and youth.

Colusa County has long struggled with health care accessibility, with residents often travelling up to 60 miles to find the services they need. For primary care, there is just one physician in the county for every 3,650 residents—or more than three times the patient load than the state average. The death rate from coronary disease is more than 50 percent higher than the state’s rate, with high rates of comorbidities like diabetes and hypertension. Colusa ranks 52^nd of California’s 58 counties in health factors, like low access to clinical care, economic indicators and the physical environment.

This project alleviates some of that pressure by bringing providers and services into the community—but it would not be affordable without the use of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs). Broadstreet committed $10 million in NMTC allocation from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) to support the project. The Morgan Stanley Rural NMTC Fund, which Broadstreet manages, is the investor. Broadstreet also made a $5 million short-term bridge loan to help finance the clinics.

Because NMTC financing is more affordable than conventional debt, the CCIC will be able to save an estimated $500,000 on debt service, which it plans to use to increase salaries for low-wage employees and improve compensation for health care providers in order to attract them to the community—thereby contributing to the broader social and economic well-being of local residents. The project will also create 27 new permanent jobs.