Federation to Hold Web-Briefing on Tuesday, March 24

(March 19, 2009 – New York, NY)  On March 18, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund made its eagerly awaited announcement of “stimulus” and other funding availability. 

Just weeks after the receiving a $100-million allocation from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Fund has released its plan to award and disburse these monies in record time. The size and speed of the funding far outstrips any previous CDFI Fund actions and the larger awards will be awarded by the end of June, with a “supplemental” round awarded by the end of September.  In all, by September 30, 2009 a total of $145 million will be awarded to CDFIs across the nation. 

Under the Fund’s new plan:

• CDFIs with applications pending in the current round (2008-09) will have an opportunity to amend their applications and apply for an increased amount (up to $2 million for Financial Assistance, and $600,000 for the Small and Emerging CDFI Assistance (SECA) program).  It is anticipated that approximately $90 million will be awarded by the end of June.
• CDFIs that do not have a current application pending will have the opportunity to apply for funding totaling $50 million, to be awarded by September 30.  Unsuccessful applicants in the June round will be eligible to reapply in this supplemental round, as well.
• No matching funds will be required for either round.
• Native American CDFIs will also benefit from a higher ceiling on awards and an increase in the total number of Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) awards.

The CDFI Fund declared that it will make more awards than in previous rounds, dig further into the applicant pool, and awards may be larger than in past years.  

Specific details on the CDFI Fund's “Recovery Act Implementation Plan” can be found at http://www.cdfifund.gov/recovery/implementationplan.pdf. 

© 2009 National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions.