Most lenders shy away from start-up businesses and restaurant start-ups are even riskier. But City First Bank of DC specializes in lending to small companies, many needing to borrow less than $1 million. One of the projects it financed using the proceeds of capital raised through the NMTC program was a new International House of Pancakes (IHOP) in Washington, DC. The owners, the Jackson family, have long ties to the Congress Heights community of SE Washington. It is one of the most economically challenged in Washington, with a 28 percent poverty rate, and the median income is 64 percent lower than the region. The Jacksons wanted to make their community livable by investing in the IHOP that is the only one in D.C. and the only sit down restaurant in this low-income community. The CDE, CF Bank Corporation used its NMTC allocation to provide a $2.05 million below-market loan to finance 100% of this project. The IHOP is part of the Shops at Park Village Shopping Center, another NMTC-financed project in southeast DC. This shopping center is noteworthy in that is not only the IHOP located there, but also the first new supermarket to open in the area in over a decade.(see project profile on previous page) The site is on a vacant former army base (Camp Simms).