Overview

Supported by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund, OFN’s Strengthening Small and Emerging CDFIs series was designed to build the capacity of small and emerging CDFIs that serve extremely poor areas—including Appalachia, the Colonias along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the Mississippi Delta — and aimed to fill coverage gaps in these underserved regions.

OFN partnered with industry experts — including The Center for Social Innovation and Finance at the Carsey Institute of the University of New Hampshire, Consulting for Change, and The Support Center — to develop and deliver trainings and technical assistance for small and emerging CDFIs serving regions of persistent poverty.

Trainings

OFN and its partners provided webinars as well as five, three-day training workshops between June and October 2013. The trainings were held in Houston, TX; Nashville, TN; Detroit, MI; Los Angeles, CA; and New Orleans, LA. The training workshops provided intensive training for certified CDFIs and those organizations that are certifiable with a track record of lending and assets less than $25 million. Each training had about 30 participants from 12-15 organizations.

The training workshops focused on the following topics.

Drivers of Growth and Sustainability

Barriers to Growth

Building Effective Partnerships

Geographic and Product Expansion

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