Finance Justice Fund Turns Dreams into Realities for People and Places Underserved by Mainstream Finance
Washington, DC – Nationwide, community development financial institutions (CDFIs) provide fair and responsible financing to people and places traditional banks often don’t serve: people like Aldo Gonzalez, a Mexican immigrant whose dream of owning his own farm came true with loans from CDFI California FarmLink; or single mom Kelisha, who purchased her first home with help from CDFI Indianapolis Neighborhood Housing Partnership; and Tina Travis, who kept her popular Black-owned small business afloat during the pandemic with an affordable recovery loan from CDFI Carolina Small Business Development Fund.
Recently, these CDFIs received loans and grants from the Finance Justice Fund (FJF) to invest in the communities they serve. Managed by Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), a leading national network of CDFIs, the FJF aims to raise more than $1 billion in corporate, bank, and philanthropic capital ($1 billion in debt and $150 million in philanthropic support) to address long-standing disinvestment issues, the racial wealth gap, and persistent poverty by delivering financing to rural, urban, and Native communities through CDFIs.
Today, OFN announced four new FJF partners.
Truist Financial Corporation (NYSE: TFC), Focusing Philanthropy, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation have committed a total of $23 million. This includes $10 million in long-term, flexible debt capital from Truist. It also includes $13 million in philanthropic support: $5 million from Focusing Philanthropy, which brings new donors to the industry as part of its third “Bold Initiative”—a transformative, large-scale multi-year partnership to support a proven effective model; $5 million from the MacArthur Foundation, and $3 million from the Kellogg Foundation, two leading, longtime supporters of OFN and the CDFI industry.
Read the full press release.