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.
We are proud to be one of the many CDFIs channeling capital into otherwise economically underserved communities nationwide. Since 2017, we have financed over 3,000 affordable homes, aided by awards from the CDFI Fund. The CDFI Fund’s programs are essential to our work and our ability to attract and leverage private capital.
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.
I support CDFIs because they serve as economic first responders in their communities. Native and consumer loan funds, in particular, are instrumental in lifting our most vulnerable populations out of poverty. These CDFIs provide essential financial services and resources, offering a lifeline to individuals and families who might otherwise be excluded from traditional banking systems. By empowering them to become bankable again, CDFIs help create pathways to financial independence and long-term prosperity.
CDFIs bridge an important gap in capital between fully bankable and not yet bankable deals reaching out to Socially and Economically Disadvantaged Individual business owners to grow our economy.