Recap of New England Regional Meeting in New Hampshire

Jamal Habibi

September 19, 2019 –

OFN’s New England Regional Meeting took place on September 12 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The meeting was attended by approximately 60 people representing CDFIs, government agencies, and other partner organizations.

Following introductory remarks by OFN Executive Vice President of Membership Seth Julyan, the morning session kicked off with a policy update from OFN’s Public Policy Team, who provided attendees with key updates on issues related to the CDFI Fund, Opportunity Zones, the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), New Markets Tax Credits, and housing. Attendees had an opportunity to comment on federal policies as well as share opportunities and challenges they face in their communities.

During the afternoon session, attendees heard from Jodie Harris, Director of the CDFI Fund at the U.S. Treasury. Director Harris provided an overview of the CDFI Fund’s fall agenda, fielded questions, and provided timelines on award announcements for:

Technical Assistance (TA) Awards
Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program
Financial Assistance (FA) Awards
Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA) Awards

The afternoon session concluded with breakout discussions where attendees discussed staff capacity, CDFI capitalization, and resilience financing.

OFN thanks the many participants and supporters of our New England Regional Meeting, especially Jodie Harris for making time to join us in Manchester! We also thank Wells Fargo for their generous support of our 2019 Regional Meetings.

The final Regional Meeting this year will take place on December 5 in Baltimore.