PA12 Stories and Data

CDFIs provide critical support to low- to moderate-income communities in the form of loans and technical assistance. This support provides individuals and businesses unable to access traditional financing the opportunity to build their financial acumen, responsibly manage debt while building credit scores and wealth, and eventually graduate to accessing traditional banking products. In the meantime, these individuals are able to start or expand businesses, become homeowners, purchase vehicles, and access capital to cover emergency situations. CDFIs played a critical role with this activity during the pandemic and are part of the essential fabric when it comes to uplifting local economies and providing individuals with a path to the American dream of homeownership and prosperity in a way that promotes self-sufficiency and self-reliance.

Our CDFI is housed in a non-profit dedicated to cultivating entrepreneurial leadership within underserved communities to increase their economic mobility. CDFIs are crucial to this work and bridging the gap to help entrepreneurs access funding before being able to approach a traditional lender for a myriad of reasons such as lack of credit history, being underbanked or never banking, lacking access to financial literacy resources and education around borrowing process. Being able to combine training resources with microlending support enables our org to further serve these populations in a way that best meets their needs and creates economic growth and jobs within our local communities.

As a former executive of a CDFI I saw firsthand the job creation and the dreams of many clients supported by our organization. We hired amazing financial mission driven talent and we supported hard working entrepreneurs who were seeking opportunities in their community and for their families. The recent EO will not make America great again, it will hurt Americans who are resilient, innovative and a fabric of their communities.