6 ways credit unions use CDFI grants
Twenty-five years in, the Treasury Department program’s roster is dominated by member-owned cooperative financial institutions, who find a precise mission fit.
The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund is once again on the chopping block.
The Trump administration’s budget for 2020 would eliminate funds for the grants, which are used to encourage investment in low- and moderate-income areas deemed underserved and lacking access to traditional financing.
Congress created the CDFI program in 1994 to help generate economic growth and opportunity in distressed communities around the country. President Trump’s 2018 and 2019 budgets also called for no funding for grants, but that was beaten back by lawmakers.
The CDFI Coalition offers an online toolkit for advocating for the fund, and attendees at the CDFI Roundtable on March 11 at the CUNA GAC, coincidentally held moments after the budget proposal was released, were urged to tell their story to lawmakers while Hiking the Hill and beyond.
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