Harold Pettigrew Elected to Chair U.S. Department of the Treasury Community Development Advisory Board
Opportunity Finance Network President and CEO elected to lead advisory board to the Director of the CDFI Fund
Washington, D.C. (September 23, 2024) – Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) announces the election of President and CEO Harold Pettigrew as Chair of the Community Development Advisory Board (the Advisory Board), a 15-person federal advisory committee to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund). President Biden originally appointed Pettigrew to the Advisory Board in September 2021.
“As we celebrate 30 years of impactful investment by the CDFI Fund in communities across the country, it is my honor to serve as Chair of the Community Development Advisory Board at this critical time for the community development finance industry,” said OFN President and CEO Harold Pettigrew. “I thank my fellow Advisory Board members for their support and look forward to collaborating with them to provide key insights to the CDFI Fund for the continued success of CDFIs, the industry, and more importantly, the communities we serve.”
The Advisory Board was established through Section 104(d) of the Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act of 1994 to advise the Director of the Fund on policies regarding the activities of the CDFI Fund. The Advisory Board is to meet at least annually and consists of 15 members, including the Secretaries of the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Treasury, the Administrator of the Small Business Administration, and nine private citizens appointed by the President of the United States. Members of the Community Development Advisory Board support the Director of the CDFI Fund with guidance and recommendations on policies regarding the CDFI Fund’s programmatic activities. The Advisory Board is not a governing board, and it does not advise the Director on the approval or denial of any application for monetary or non-monetary awards.
The CDFI Fund promotes equal access to economic opportunity, investment capital, and financial services to underserved communities by building the capacity of and investing in CDFIs. The CDFI Fund has been foundational to community development finance; since its inception, the Fund has awarded more than $7 billion to CDFIs and $76 billion tax credits to capitalize community development projects. Today, there are more than 1,400 certified CDFIs. Since 2015, CDFIs have invested at least $216 billion dollars in communities across the country, helping create or retain 5.3 million American jobs.
For more information on the CDFI Fund, go to https://www.cdfifund.gov. For more information on the CDFI Fund Advisory Board go to https://www.cdfifund.gov/advisory-board.
About Opportunity Finance Network
Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) is the nation’s leading network and intermediary focused on community development investment, managing over $1 billion in total assets and a membership of over 420 community development financial institutions (CDFIs), which includes community development loan funds, credit unions, green banks, banks, minority depository institutions, and venture capital funds. Our network of CDFIs works to ensure communities underserved by mainstream finance have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services, with a deep focus on serving rural, urban, and Native communities across the United States. OFN is a trusted investment partner to the public, private, and philanthropic sectors – foundations, corporations, banks, government agencies, and others – and, for 40 years, has helped partners invest in communities to catalyze change and create economic opportunities for all.
Since its founding in 1986, OFN members have originated $111 billion in financing, helping to create or maintain more than 3 million jobs, start or expand more than 850,000 businesses and microenterprises, and support the development or rehabilitation of nearly 2.4 million housing units and more than 14,000 community facility projects.
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