Recent News Stories and Data

Meet Allison Bell, Owner of Little Things Preschool and Daycare
Rebuilding Together
Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation Lending in PA District 1
CDVCA Invests in Goodwrx

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.

The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) plays a vital role in building a strong economy! CDFIs are one of the country’s most effective examples of public-private partnership. They attract private capital to help families buy homes, schools and health centers expand, small businesses grow, and communities thrive – especially in places traditional investors don’t reach on their own. CDFIs are important partners in deploying tax credit programs, such as New Markets Tax Credits, which incentivize investments while reducing taxpayer burden. Some of America’s greatest achievements – from the moon landing (and even modern space exploration) to the birth of Silicon Valley – happened because government had the vision to catalyze private innovation and investment. CDFIs operate in that same spirit.   Every day we see how smart, targeted investments unlock opportunity and drive prosperity that benefits everyone. CDFIs are effective because they fuel American ingenuity in the places it exists, which is everywhere!

Annie Donovan, Raza Development Fund, Phoenix, AZ

CDFIs provided necessary funding and support to communities, including small businesses. Economic opportunity is the path to a unified society.

Kellen Robert Ball, Business Impact Northwest, Seattle, WA

The CDFI Fund has made it possible for our credit union to put funding in the hands of Iowans of modest means who absolutely need it most.

Greg Hanshaw, Community 1st Credit Union, Ottumwa, IA

The nonprofit community depends upon the work of CDFIs to help with investing in communities that are most in need. Whether that be affordable housing, community facilities, community health centers, and economic development, CDFIs can provide the capital that otherwise would not support such critical projects. Particularly important are the investments that CDFIs contribute to rural communities, and other under-invested areas, such as Appalachia. For decades, CDFIs in some of the most economically distressed regions of the country have been addressing the employment and housing, banking and infrastructure needs of local people and places. From the development of entrepreneurs who create jobs to the expansion of safe affordable housing; from increased access to financial services to more readily accessible drinking water and public infrastructure; CDFIs leverage the power of finance to import capital into communities and regions that otherwise suffer from disinvestment. Through these actions, CDFIs strengthen local economies, generate wealth that sticks, and foster agency and power among local people to determine their own destiny.

Kelly Kupcak, Community Action Committee of Pike County, Piketon, OH