For the past three decades, a little-known fund housed in the U.S. Department of the Treasury has been quietly fueling economic growth in communities across the country. With an astonishing return on investment, the Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFI, Fund has unlocked billions in private capital in economically distressed urban, rural and Native communities that are often overlooked by mainstream financial institutions. The CDFI Fund has a 30-year track record of providing resources to local CDFIs—loan funds, credit unions and banks—that finance what is important to Americans with low and moderate incomes: affordable housing; new childcare slots; growth for local businesses; and expanded health care facilities.
The CDFI locator lists CDFIs by state and helps every member of Congress see their local impact. More than 1,000 CDFIs work in communities from coast to coast in service of driving economic opportunity.
The above is an excerpt of an op-ed originally published in American Banker.
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