September 2015 Stories and Data

People Inc. provides disaster relief services to SW Virginia after Hurricane Helene
“Bouncing Forward” from Disasters on Hawaiʻi’s Big Island
PathStone: Supporting Puerto Rico’s Recovery
GO Zone Story: Houston Food Bank

Thank you to our partners at Inclusive and CDBA for sharing data on CDFI Bank and CDFI Credit Union branch locations. In addition, about 100 of our CDFI Stories come from OFN’s story database.

CDFI Investment Map

Mapped CDFI investment data (2005-2023), via the CDFI Coalition's partnership with CDFI Friendly America.

CDFI Advocacy App

Want more state data? Check out CDFI Friendly America's mobile-friendly CDFI Advocacy App for impacts from 2005-2023.

CDFIs are critical to increasing access to capital in communities across the country. Here at Communities Unlimited, we are filling gaps that the market cannot fill. Leveraging the CDFI Fund, we provide lending services that are critical to basic infrastructure in rural places, sparking entrepreneurship in small towns, and deploying capital to increase investment in homes and property in rural areas. Our lending portfolio includes rural and regional water and wastewater systems, small business loans for unserved entrepreneurs who cannot access a loan from a traditional bank, and consumer loans for home improvement, private wells, and private septic systems in rural places. The best part about our lending services: our clients pay them off. These are not handouts but loans. CU’s lending services, through the CDFI Fund, are critical for increasing access to capital and driving economic growth in rural places.

Ines Polonius, Communities Unlimited, Fayetteville, AR

We are a CDFI focused on small business lending. We are giving people who deserve a shot at the American dream – but can’t get it because big banks don’t do small business loans or character loans anymore. Small businesses are important sources of jobs, income and innovation.

Mark Masterson, Neighborhood Community Development Fund, Pittsburgh, PA

CDFIs provide responsible and affordable loans to individuals, businesses, and organizations that are unable to obtain financing from conventional banks – not because they aren’t worthy of a loan, but because their risk profile doesn’t fit the more rigid criteria used by conventional banks. This is an essential service for making sure loan capital reaches deserving borrowers with unconventional loan applications. And because CDFIs disburse loans instead of grants, they offer a sustainable solution to financing and teach borrowers how to manage budgets and pay back their loans.

Lance Loethen, Tract Advisors, LLC, Stockton, NJ

CDFIs provide critical support to low- to moderate-income communities in the form of loans and technical assistance. This support provides individuals and businesses unable to access traditional financing the opportunity to build their financial acumen, responsibly manage debt while building credit scores and wealth, and eventually graduate to accessing traditional banking products. In the meantime, these individuals are able to start or expand businesses, become homeowners, purchase vehicles, and access capital to cover emergency situations. CDFIs played a critical role with this activity during the pandemic and are part of the essential fabric when it comes to uplifting local economies and providing individuals with a path to the American dream of homeownership and prosperity in a way that promotes self-sufficiency and self-reliance.

Caitlin Solander, Baker Tilly, Pittsburgh, PA