Community developers, economic developers, and urban planners work to improve economically declining and physically deteriorating neighborhoods and downtown areas. Development finance is one tool for improvement. Community economic development practitioners function as development bankers and participants in public-private revitalization and redevelopment projects.

This course focuses on development banking as an integral part of the community and economic development process and on public-private projects that meet public interest objectives. Since housing is emphasized in other courses, the public-private projects considered are business development projects and commercial real estate projects. This course has the following learning objectives:

• Learn how to analyze existing businesses or real estate projects, evaluate business plans or real estate pro formas, and determine the financial viability of a public-private project (ratio analysis, DCF analysis, credit analysis).
  
• Learn how to structure and finance these projects, especially how to leverage other private and public sources.
  
• Develop a definition of development banking and learn how development banking can promote community economic development.