Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI)
Department & Agency:
Department of the Treasury, Internal Revenue Service
Agency Contact:
Donna Gambell, CDFI Fund Director
Chris James, Program & Financial Advisor, CDFI Fund, Native Initiatives
http://www.cdfifund.gov/recovery/
Stimulus Funding:
Title V of the final Act, making appropriations for Financial Services and General Government, including the Department of the Treasury, appropriates $100 million for the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Program Account for qualified applicants. These funds will be available until September 30, 2010. A total of $8 million may be used to benefit Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native communities.
The Treasury Department’s CDFI Fund released its implementation plan on March 18, 2009. The Fund plans to award all Recovery Act funds for the CDFI Program in less than 90 days and will begin disbursing awards within 120 days. The Fund will reopen its FY 2009 CDFI Program and Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Program award rounds so that additional applicants may apply, and will also offer current applicants the opportunity to request larger awards. Applicants that applied under the initial FY 2009 award rounds will have the opportunity to increase the amounts they requested in their applications to as much as $750,000 under the NACA Program. The Recovery Act also included a waiver of the program’s matching funds requirement.
Eligibility and Type:
The $8 million may be used for financial assistance, technical assistance, training and outreach programs to benefit Native American, Native Hawaiian, and Alaska Native communities and provided primarily through qualified community development lender organizations with experience and expertise in community development banking and lending in Indian Country, Native American organizations, tribes and tribal organizations and other suitable providers.
Program Description:
The CDFI Fund is intended to expand job-creating investments and to provide access to credit in disadvantaged communities. Through merit-based grant programs, the additional investment is intended to help locally-based financial institutions offer small business, consumer and home loans to communities and populations that lack access to affordable credit. The Native Initiatives Program of the CDFI Fund supports Native communities through grants under the Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) program. Through the NACA Program, the CDFI Fund provides Technical Assistance (TA) grants to entities that will become ("Emerging Native CDFIs") or create ("Sponsoring Entities") a Native CDFI. NACA also offers both TA and Financial Assistance (FA) grants to Native institutions that have received ‘certification’ from the CDFI Fund. The Native Initiatives Program also funds training and technical assistance for Native communities, related to the development of Native CDFIs.
General Provisions:
For the purpose of the FY 2009 funding round, the following statutory provisions are waived: 12 U.S.C. 4707(e) and the 12 U.S.C. 4707(d), that relate to the cap and match provisions for FA grants to certified CDFIs. No awardee, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, may be awarded more than 5 percent of the aggregate funds available during FY 2009. In addition, no later than 60 days after the date of enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the Department of the Treasury shall submit a detailed expenditure plan for funds provided in this section.
