OFN Members Receive More Than $1.8 Billion in Federal Awards for Equitable Community Development

The U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund announces the latest round of awards for several key programs as it marks its 30^th anniversary.

Read time: 3 minutes

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund was established 30 years ago this month through the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 as a bipartisan initiative. The CDFI Fund promotes access to capital and local economic growth through various programs and initiatives that support the work of 1,400 certified CDFIs nationwide.

Recently the CDFI Fund announced awardees of several programs, including the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) and Financial Assistance (FA) programs.

CDFI Fund’s Latest NMTC Allocations

Established through the Community Renewal Tax Relief Act in 2000, the NMTC Program permits individuals and corporations to receive a nonrefundable tax credit against federal income taxes for making equity investments in financial intermediaries that serve low-income communities. Since its inception, the CDFI Fund has completed 20 allocation rounds and made 1,667 awards totaling $81 billion in tax allocation authority.

OFN congratulates the 104 community development entities that received NMTC allocations totaling $5 billion, announced September 19 by the CDFI Fund. Of the awardees, 32 OFN members cumulatively received $1.63 billion in NMTC, totaling 33% of the allocations for calendar year 2023.

See the list of OFN member recipients here.

Learn more about these recipients using our CDFI Locator.

CDFI Fund’s Latest FA Awards

Made through the CDFI Program and Native American CDFI Assistance Program, FA awards help CDFIs build capacity and achieve organizational sustainability as they provide financial services in low-income and underinvested communities nationwide.

On September 26, the CDFI Fund announced that 357 CDFIs received FA awards totaling $408 million — 91 CDFIs received the award for the first time. We congratulate all the recipients, particularly the 164 OFN members who cumulatively received $219 million, totaling 46% of FA awards for Fiscal Year 2024.

See the list of OFN member recipients here.

Learn more about these recipients using our CDFI Locator.

Contact Your Members of Congress

OFN relies on the ground-level experience of our members to demonstrate the impact of the CDFI industry and the importance of the CDFI Fund to policymakers. With a significant number of new faces to be elected to the 119th Congress and key decisions to make, OFN will call on our members to engage as CDFI advocates.

The NMTC program is set to expire at the end of 2025. OFN is advocating for permanency for the program and supporting bipartisan legislation in the House and Senate to extend the program.

Funding levels for the next round of FA and CDFI Fund Technical Assistance awards, which offer CDFIs additional capacity-building support, are still being debated on Capitol Hill. Congress passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through December 20, but they still have not reached an agreement on funding for FY 2025.

Go to OFN’s Policy Action Center today to contact your members of Congress in support of $354 million for the CDFI Fund in FY 2025!

Connect With OFN

Subscribe to receive regular updates straight to your inbox and check out our blog for the latest coverage from OFN and the CDFI industry. 
Follow us on social media.

Tags: CDFI Fund, Community Development, Impact Investing, OFN Membership