The Community Reinvestment Program (CRP) is a community-designed initiative to uplift communities. The goal is to create lasting economic benefits, build wealth and ensure everyone has a fair chance at success.
CRP partners with organizations across the state to support economic development, reentry services, legal assistance and violence prevention. In collaboration with community partners, CRP’s impact includes:
- Creating jobs in partnership with diverse small businesses
- Offering training programs to meet workforce needs
- Higher self-sufficient incomes for people to support their families
- Helping people acquire homes and start new businesses
- Increasing safety of our neighborhoods through community-led projects
CRP funding opportunities
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In 2022, the WA Legislature created the Community Reinvestment Account and appropriated $200 million to address racial, economic, and social disparities created by the historic design and enforcement of state and federal criminal laws and penalties for drug possession (the war on drugs). The Legislature directed that the Department of Commerce (Commerce) invest the funds into four program areas:
- Economic development
- Civil and criminal legal assistance
- Community-based violence intervention and prevention
- Reentry services
Commerce, in partnership with the WA Office of Equity, worked with communities across the state to develop a Community Reinvestment Plan laying out recommendations for how these funds would be invested over the 2023-2025 biennium (July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2025).
The Community Reinvestment Plan recommended Commerce distribute the $200 million across the state through more than 17 individual grant programs. Some of the grant programs were expansions of existing programs. Some of the programs represents new ideas, requiring more time and collaboration to implement.
- To read the original plan, download the 2023-2025 Community Reinvestment Plan (PDF)
In 2025, the legislature appropriated $50 million of new funding for the CRP. Commerce is not required to follow the original Community Reinvestment Plan, but is directed to distribute funds for the program areas listed in RCW 43.79.567: Community reinvestment account, in similar proportions to the 2023-2025 investment areas. Additionally, the legislature updated the definition of by-and-for organizations. CRP by-and-for organizations include, but are not limited to, those operated by and for Black, Latine, Native American, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities.