November 23, 2021 Stories and Data

Built to Scale: Designing a Business with Scale in Mind
St. John Manor
Catonsville CO-OP brings together food, community, and local businesses
A Grand Opening Like No Other

Testimonials

CDFIs are crucial to affordable housing.

-Braden Wiener, Opportunity Resource Fund, Grand Rapids, MI

In Syracuse’s depressed economy, CDFIs have been a lifeline for aiding some of the most financially challenged residents and businesses. My credit union has leveraged CDFI funds to lift many households out of poverty, and we need this to continue.

-Susan Hamilton, Syracuse Cooperative Federal Credit Union, Syracuse, NY

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