Uplift America Fund 2019 Progress Report Now Available
OFN and Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation have released the 2019 Progress Report for the Uplift America Fund, a partnership that leverages federal resources, bank financing, and private grants to target much-needed capital to persistently low-wealth areas.
The Fund makes low-interest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) loans and private grant support available to community lenders, particularly CDFIs, that provide funding in economically distressed areas of Appalachia, the Texas-Mexico border, the rural South, and Native American reservations. These funds can be used for community facilities projects, like health clinics, schools, libraries, food banks, municipal buildings, and childcare centers.
The report looks at successes and lessons learned since the Fund’s inception, projects in the pipeline and complete, and the importance of CDFIs in the Uplift partnership. Among the new projects featured are a wellness center on tribal land in Oregon, a fully equipped dental clinic inside an existing Federally Qualified Health Center in Kentucky, and a centrally-located fire station run by volunteer firefighters in Montana.
Read the full report here.