Recent News
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund published in today’s Federal Register a request for public comment concerning the criteria to designate a certified CDFI as a Minority Lending Institution (MLI). While no federal funding is associated with an MLI designation, the CDFI Fund seeks to implement this designation for CDFIs that wish to be recognized for high levels of service and accountability to minority populations and to identify barriers that those CDFIs experience in providing access to capital. The CDFI Fund will use the designation for limited purposes, including data collection and reporting. The Federal Register posting includes the list of questions to which the CDFI Fund is requesting comment. Comments must be submitted by Nov. 25.
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund will pause the acceptance of new CDFI certification applications from Oct. 1, 2022, through April 2, 2023, as it deploys new application and reporting tools. The revised certification application, annual certification and data collection report will be released for a second round of public comment in the coming weeks by the Office of Management and Budget, with the updated versions implemented April 3, 2023. During the blackout period, CDFIs will be required to be in a state of good standing with respect to their certification status. Organizations must remain in compliance with all outstanding CDFI Fund awards reporting requirements, including recipients of the new markets tax credit (NMTC) and Capital Magnet Fund (CMF). The CDFI Fund posted a frequently asked questions document on the blackout period.
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund will publish in Tuesday’s Federal Register an amended notice of funds availability (NOFA) for the fiscal year 2022 CDFI Equitable Recovery Program (CDFI ERP) round. The amended NOFA extends several deadlines, including an extension for CDFI ERP applications to Sept. 22 at 11:59 p.m. ET and extension to submit the OMB Standard Form-424 Mandatory to Aug. 18. In addition to the deadline extensions, the CDFI Fund also amended the NOFA to clarify eligibility requirements around audited financial statements. The CDFI ERP provides $1.75 billion to CDFIs in grants to respond to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Awards are provided to CDFIs to expand services in low- or moderate-income communities and to borrowers that have significant unmet capital or financial services needs and were disproportionally affected by the pandemic.
The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund today announced that it tentatively plans to update low-income community data for the new markets tax credit (NMTC) incentive in spring 2023. The updated data will be based Census Bureau data from the 2016-2020 American Community Survey (ACS), with a one-year transition period. Eligibility is currently determined by data collected through the 2011-2015 ACS.
Surveyed community development entities (CDEs) using new markets tax credits (NMTCs) completed 277 projects that generated 52,718 jobs in 2021, according to the 2022 New Markets Tax Credit Progress Report, prepared by the NMTC Coalition. The organization has surveyed CDEs about their activity annually since 2005. Highlights of the 2021 report include that the 277 projects totaled $6.1 billion in investment and received $3.2 billion in NMTC allocation; projects were in 47 states and territories; 86% of projects were in severely distressed communities; a record 31% of NMTC financing went to non-metropolitan counties and the median equity price reported was 74 cents per dollar of credit.
