Craft3, a nonprofit community lender that helps finance projects in underserved communities, has finalized two investments in Eastern Washington valued at $35.5 million, according to CEO Elizabeth Zeller.

The two grants come from the organization’s $80 million allocation in federal New Markets Tax Credits that help fund community and economic development projects in low-income areas. 

The Salish School of Spokane received $15 million to fund the development of a new language school, cultural, and recreational community center along the Spokane River, at 2720 W. Elliott Court. 

About 50 miles north of Spokane, in Cusick, Washington, Craft3 has allocated $20.5 million to the Kalispel Tribe of Indians to support the expansion of the tribe’s Camas Center Medical and Dental Clinic, at 1821 N. LeClerc Road.

The two New Markets Tax Credit investments represent the first such investments in Eastern Washington in over a decade, Zeller says. The program is a federal initiative that gives tax incentives to private investors who put money into businesses and real estate projects in low-income and distressed areas.