Our First Loan First Loan Catalyzes Opening of New Substance Use Disorder Treatment Facility for Pregnant Women and Parenting Mothers in New Orleans

By ReHealth Collaborative staff

ReHealth Collaborative’s $1 million loan to Volunteers of America Southeast Louisiana subsidiary will finance New Orleans’ first Family-Focused Recovery Center through a novel outcomes-based loan repayment model (read press release).

When it opens in Fall 2025, VOA SELA’s Family Focused Recovery (FFR) program will provide residential treatment and wrap-around services to pregnant, postpartum, and parenting women with substance use disorder (SUD). The FFR program model focuses on providing whole-person care, including individual and family therapy, peer support, and medication-assisted treatment, and promoting long-term recovery outcomes for women and their children.

This will be the only program in New Orleans where children will be able to live with their mothers during treatment. While women are receiving intensive treatment and wrap-around services, their children benefit from supervision, care, and family support services. After residential treatment ends, mothers and their children can stay in residence while they pursue intensive outpatient treatment and connect to external resources including housing and employment.

Located in downtown New Orleans near University Medical Center, the VOA SELA program will have capacity to serve approximately 120 clients annually while providing easy access to nearby medical and other social services. Louisiana ranks in the bottom five of states in both maternal mortality rate (37 deaths per 100,000 live births) and drug overdose death rate (54.5 deaths per 100,000 in population), according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.

With a total building renovation cost of $6.3 million, ReHealth’s $1 million loan from its FFR Fund provides VOA SELA with much needed capital for facility renovations and program operations. ReHealth’s loan is part of an innovative capital stack built by VOA SELA that brings together multiple lenders, grantors, and financing mechanisms, including new market tax credits, state historic tax credits, and value-based contracts facilitated by Quantified Ventures to enable loan repayments.  

An important and novel feature of the ReHealth loan is that a portion can convert to an outcomes-based repayment model with concessionary terms. At the time of program opening, $500,000 can convert to a lower interest rate and be collateralized by performance payments from value-based contracts between VOA SELA and Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs) in Louisiana.

"Non-profits need concessionary capital to launch, operate, and grow programs that meaningfully impact the lives and health of underserved populations," said Henderson Brown, interim president of ReHealth Collaborative. “This inaugural loan from our Family Focused Recovery Fund validates the catalytic impact ReHealth offers to organizations like VOA SELA, and we look forward to replicating this model in other areas across the country.”