Enterprise Point of Contact:
Jeanie ShattuckSenior Policy Analyst
Last Updated: April 28, 2012
Issue Background: Community Development Financial Institutions Fund
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund provides support to qualified community-based financial institutions to promote revitalization of distressed neighborhoods across the United States through economic investment. Since the establishment of the CDFI Fund, more than $1.11 billion has been awarded to CDFIs across the country.Administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury), the CDFI Fund offers competitive grants and tax credit allocations, provides awards to banks that actively invest in their communities, and provides specialized assistance for Native American financial institutions. These programs advance the mission-oriented goals of CDFIs and contribute to efforts to comprehensively address the needs of communities.
Enterprise operates the Enterprise Community Loan Fund (ECLF), a Treasury-certified CDFI. ECLF is one of the largest nonprofit loan funds in the country, and has loaned more than $1 billion in low-income communities and helped build or renovate nearly 100,000 affordable homes nationwide.
Current Policy State
The CDFI Fund received significant funding increases in the initial years of the Obama Administration. However, given the ongoing fiscally constrained environment, the fund will be subject to budget pressures.Legislative and Regulatory Priorities
Enterprise strongly supports the CDFI Fund as an important source of funding for community development institutions and projects. In addition, Enterprise believes that Congress should make the New Markets Tax Credit program (which is administered by the CDFI Fund) a permanent part of the tax code, based on its proven record of success in creating jobs, attracting private capital and revitalizing distressed communities.Publications and Resources
Enterprise Resources
- For the latest program funding levels, visit the Enterprise Enterprise Budget and Appropriations webpage
- Enterprise Capital Magnet Fund Summary, as included in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008
- Enterprise Community Loan Fund (ECLF)
- Enterprise New Markets Tax Credit Information Webpage
Enterprise Press Releases
- Enterprise Receives $62 Million in New Markets Tax Credit Allocation from CDFI Fund (February 24, 2011)
- Enterprise Applauds Congress for Passing Legislation Creating Thousands of U.S. Jobs and Billions of Dollars in Construction Activity, Including a Two-Year Extension of the NMTC Program (December 17, 2010)
- Treasury Secretary Geithner Announces Proposals to Extend, Enhance New Markets Tax Credit Program (February 19, 2010)
CDFI Bond Guarantee Program
- In his monthly Policy Points column in the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits, Enterprise Senior Director, Public Policy and Government Affairs, Peter Lawrence wrote how the CDFI Bond Guarantee is a Below-the-Radar Opportunity to Increase Community Development Lending.
- On August 15, 2011, President, Enterprise Community Loan Fund Lori Chatman provided public comment on the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, authorized as part of the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-240)