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.

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

CDFIs provide access to capital for individuals who more traditional financial institutions would otherwise deny. The capital provided allows them to sustain or scale their business.

Christopher Capel, Aspire Community Capital, Charlotte, NC

As we look to the next 25 years, we remain focused on investing in entrepreneurs and communities that deserve meaningful opportunities to grow and thrive.

Marten Jenkins, President & CEO of Partner Community Capital, Charlestown, WV

CDFIs provide responsible and affordable loans to individuals, businesses, and organizations that are unable to obtain financing from conventional banks – not because they aren’t worthy of a loan, but because their risk profile doesn’t fit the more rigid criteria used by conventional banks. This is an essential service for making sure loan capital reaches deserving borrowers with unconventional loan applications. And because CDFIs disburse loans instead of grants, they offer a sustainable solution to financing and teach borrowers how to manage budgets and pay back their loans.

Lance Loethen, Tract Advisors, LLC, Stockton, NJ