CDFIs provide a critical service to low-income entrepreneurs who are generally excluded from traditional financing to receive business training services and access to affordable capital to help them start their own microenterprises and thus improve their family’s and community’s economic stability.
I strongly urge Congress to support the funding for the Department of the Treasury’s CDFI Fund….As a governing board member of Central States Development Partners, Inc., a national, certified Community Development Entity (CDE), I can personally attest to the measurable and lasting impact the CDFI Fund programs have on Main Street America. In my work with both Economic Growth Corporation and Central States Development Partners, I have witnessed firsthand how targeted federal investment through the CDFI Fund acts as a catalyst for private-sector growth in communities that need it most. These dollars support job-creating projects, from manufacturing, healthcare, and community facilities that increase access to vital community services needed within severely and deeply distressed communities.
I have chaired our local board and our foundation is extremely supportive of the difference [CDFI Fund awards] have made in the Dayton community!