U.S. Treasury Announces Awards to Organizations Serving Native Communities

U.S. Treasury Announces Awards to Organizations Serving Native Communities

Milwaukee, Wisconsin – Underscoring the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s commitment to revitalizing economic and community development, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) Director Donna J. Gambrell and Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Don Graves joined U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore to announce an aggregate total of $186.9 million in awards to 210 organizations serving low-income communities. The fiscal year 2012 awards, provided through the CDFI Fund’s Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program), represent the largest single announcement of award dollars and award recipients in the CDFI Fund’s history.

Both programs provide awards to certified and emerging Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that specialize in assisting low-income and distressed communities. In addition, the NACA Program has a particular focus of supporting CDFIs that serve primarily Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities. In addition, the CDFI Program for the past two years has provided supplemental awards to highly-qualified applicants under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which aims to increase access to healthy food options in low-income areas.

Speaking to a group of CDFIs that work in Wisconsin, Gambrell highlighted how the awards will benefit a broad swath of Americans. “I am pleased to announce the 2012 awards for the CDFI Program and the NACA Program, which will increase the capacity of CDFIs serving low-income and Native communities across the country,” said Director Gambrell. “This year’s awardees will continue to provide vital financial services in low-income areas that are typically overlooked by traditional lenders, bettering the lives of Americans nationwide.”

The CDFI Fund is awarding more than $175 million in CDFI Program awards and nearly $11.5 million in NACA Program awards. The 210 awardees – 177 CDFI Program awardees and 33 NACA Program awardees – are headquartered in 41 states. Full details of the awardees may be found on the CDFI Fund’s website, http://www.cdfifund.gov.

About the CDFI Fund

Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded over $1.7 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations and financial institutions through the CDFI Program, the Bank Enterprise Awards Program, the Capital Magnet Fund, the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program, and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $33 billion in tax credit authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program.

About the CDFI Program

Through the CDFI Program’s Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards, the CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of for-profit and non-profit community based lending organizations known as Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs. These organizations, certified as CDFIs by the U.S. Treasury Department, serve rural and urban low-income people and communities across the nation that lack adequate access to affordable financial products and services. Awards are granted through an annual competitive application process.

Additionally, in FYs 2011 and 2012, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative served as a supplemental funding opportunity under the CDFI Program for eligible CDFIs that expressed an interest in expanding their healthy food-focused financing activities and had received Financial Assistance awards. The Healthy Food Financing Initiative is an interagency initiative involving the CDFI Fund, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that represents the federal government’s first coordinated step to increase the supply of and demand for nutritious foods in low-income urban and rural areas in the United States.

About the NACA Program

Through the CDFI Program’s NACA Program Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards, the CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of for-profit and non-profit community based lending organizations known as Native Community Development Financial Institutions, or Native CDFIs, and entities proposing to become or create Native CDFIs. These organizations serve low-income Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people and communities across the nation that lack adequate access to affordable financial products and services. Awards are granted through an annual competitive application process.