The Letter

The Honorable Scott Bessent
United States Department of Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20220

Dear Secretary Bessent,

Thank you for your continued support for the work of CDFIs. We write to bring to your attention pending applications for CDFI Fund Technical and Financial Assistance, Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) and CDFI Fund Bond Guarantee programs. Applications for CDFI FA, TA, and NACA programs closed on March 21. Applications for the Housing Production Financial Assistance program closed on April 4. Guarantee Applications for the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program were due on February 24th.

As you have noted, the CDFI Fund and CDFIs play an important role increasing the flow of capital and providing technical support to communities. CDFIs are key tool for President Trump’s commitment to job creation and economic growth in Main Streets across America.

CDFI Fund awards make it possible for private financial institutions and other private sector interests to provide financing to businesses and projects in economically distressed communities. CDFI’s leverage $8 in additional capital for every dollar received in financial assistance from the CDFI Fund. Financial Assistance awards totaling $250 million will result in $2 billion in affordable loans to businesses, mortgages, and consumer loans in rural and urban communities across the country. CDFIs will use $100 million in Housing Production Financial Assistance awards to build or renovate 4,000 affordable homes. A total of nearly $3 billion has been guaranteed since the inception of the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, which provides long-term, fixed-rate capital to creditworthy CDFIs at no cost to the tax payer.

The Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025 (P.L. 119-4) included $324 million for the CDFI Fund. We respectfully request that Treasury Department announce its commitment to make awards with the Fiscal Year 2025 appropriation and provide a timetable for making awards.
We also ask for clarification on the status of the FY 2025 Capital Magnet Fund (CMF), Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program, and Small Dollar Loan (SDL) applications. The CMF and BEA applications typically open in the early spring but have not yet opened in 2025. The SDL program, which received $9 million in appropriations in FY 2025, is also still pending.

We appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your continued support.

Sincerely,