OFN Statement on Executive Order and Potential Threats to the CDFI Fund
Washington, D.C. – President Trump’s recent Executive Order could put the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury at risk and jeopardize critical investments in small business, affordable housing, and economic opportunity for all Americans. We are working closely with our partners and allies to make clear that all CDFI Fund programs are undertaken pursuant to statutory authorities and thus are not subject to the Executive Order.
“We can’t have America First without putting our communities first,” said Harold Pettigrew, President and CEO of OFN. “For decades, CDFIs have been a driving force in bringing capital to communities that traditional financial institutions have left behind. We are fighting to ensure that federal support continues for the vital work that community development financial institutions deliver to Main Street.”
America’s 1,432 CDFIs across every U.S. state and territory are the backbone of our local economies, supporting small business owners, catalyzing private sector investment, and creating or retaining more than one million jobs annually across America. Dismantling the CDFI Fund would decimate local economies by cutting off critical financing for small businesses, from farms to restaurants to childcare centers, and could result in hundreds of thousands of painful job losses across the country. It also threatens local infrastructure projects and billions of dollars in private sector investment made possible because of the CDFI Fund and CDFIs.
CDFIs manage $304 billion in loans that support:
- More than 4.3 million businesses.
- Nearly one million families in accessing safe, stable, and affordable housing.
- 5,000 community centers such as childcare centers, healthcare facilities, and schools.
CDFIs’ proven stewardship of public, private, and philanthropic funding has been essential to the revitalization of rural, urban, and Native communities. CDFIs are able to leverage $8 in private investment for every dollar awarded by the CDFI Fund. CDFIs are also safe investments, with a default rate on its loans of .36% in 2023, roughly half the rate of traditional banks.
CDFIs are financial first responders. This was especially true in 2020 when the Trump Administration called upon CDFIs to help preserve jobs, keep businesses open, and stabilize communities. CDFIs also continue to be on the front lines of disaster response.
Opportunity Finance Network and our more than 470 members will continue to showcase the success of CDFIs that has earned us decades of strong bipartisan support.
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 more than 470 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 over $110 billion in financing, helping to create or maintain more than three 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.
Media Contact:
Brendon Miller
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