CDFI Stories Stories and Data

Ernest Walker Insurance Agency
432 Flats
GoGAL Program
Enhanced Estètic

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.

As a Native CDFI, funding from the CDFI Fund provides Native communities with access to capital that would otherwise be unavailable. Due to the complexities of tribal lands, traditional banks do not offer the same financial opportunities. Native CDFIs, supported by the CDFI Fund, are bridging this gap by providing equitable access to capital in ways that were previously unheard of.

Matthew Lewis, Four Directions Development Corporation, Orono, ME

CDFIs are a great, cost-effective way to support development in rural, suburban and urban communities in a public/private finance model heavily weighted to the private side. In our case in enabled locating our manufacturing plant in an area where people needed jobs.

Don Leeper, Bookmobile, Minneapolis, MN

We believe people are more than just a credit score. We believe Lending helps the Community and we do the lending that others will not.

Donn Dischert, Alltru Credit Union, St Louis, MO

I am a real estate broker and development consultant working with emerging developers, small businesses and nonprofits. Many of my clients cannot finance their projects with traditional debt and equity because they don’t come from generational wealth and because their projects are more challenging because they are in markets that are not achieving their full potential yet or meeting critical community needs that don’t produce quite as much profit. CDFI lending has stepped in the gap to solve dozens of critical projects that just need a little boost to get to the finish line, and CDFIs are critical partners to Platform’s work.

Renee Spillum, Platform Commercial Real Estate, SBC, Saint Paul, MN