Meet the Team Behind: Justine PETERSON

​Justine PETERSEN connects low-income individuals and families with essential financial tools to build assets and foster enduring change. By providing access to safe and affordable capital, along with financial education, Justine PETERSEN empowers clients to achieve personal goals like purchasing homes, starting small businesses, and improving financial stability. ​Learn more here! 

Can you tell me about Justine?

Justine M. Petersen was a pioneer in advancing financial asset development among low and moderate-income individuals and families. Ms. Petersen melded the disciplines of social work and banking to yield partnerships that would allow individuals access to mainstream financial products and services. As an organization, Justine PETERSEN serves as a port of entry to mainstream finance, equipping and empowering individuals and families with the necessary knowledge, tools and products necessary to build intergenerational assets and wealth. Justine’s and now our mission is to connect institutional resources with the needs of low-to moderate-income individuals and families, helping them to build assets and create enduring change - not just for each individual or family that we assist, but the community as a whole. 

What kind of programs do you have?

Our services include credit building and financial education, homeownership preparation and retention, and micro-enterprise lending and training. We offer credit building counseling, loans to consolidate debt and pay off high interest loans, and assist individuals in applying for a secured credit card. You can get personalized guidance through the whole home purchase process through our HUD-Approved Housing Counseling Program. We can connect you to lenders, real estate agents, home inspectors, as well as down payment and closing cost assistance programs. Through our Sanctuary in the Ordinary program, we save houses before they are lost to neglect or gentrification. 

What support do you offer to small businesses?

We serve existing and start-up businesses and offer safe and affordable capital with the goal of graduating businesses or individuals back to mainstream finance. Justine PETERSEN offers loans from $500-$150,000. Our Greencubator is purposely designed to address the personal and community barriers that prevent would-be food and green entrepreneurs from taking the leap from idea to reality. The project established a 25,000-square-foot small business incubator in the heart of the Near North Side and houses food-related and green startups and provides a host of training, technical assistance and other support. 

Can you tell me about some of your subsidiaries? 

Great Rivers Community Capital holds several consumer loan licenses and originates our Save2Build product in several states. Twenty First Homes was created to construct, own, and manage single-family homes to provide affordable rental housing to low-income families, creating a pathway to homeownership. JP Emerging Markets Fund was established to attract capital contributions through equity investments. We also created the JP Covid-19 Response Fund during the pandemic to give banks and others the opportunity to invest low-cost capital to assist businesses during this challenging time.