[CircleUp] CDFI Fund News Release: Treasury Releases CDFI Fund's Recovery Act Implementation Plan to Benefit Nation's Distressed Communities

[Info]

Treasury Releases CDFI Fund's Recovery <http://www.cdfifund.gov/index.asp>
Act Implementation Plan 
March 18, 2009 
[CDFI-2009-12] 

Treasury Releases Recovery Act Implementation Plan 
to Benefit Nation's Distressed Communities through its CDFI Fund 

Underserved Communities Will Receive Additional Funds When They Need It Most


Washington, DC - Today, as the Vice President hosts local officials from
across the country at the White House to discuss how funding made available
through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) will
support new economic growth in America's urban, suburban, and rural
communities, the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial
Institutions (CDFI) Fund is releasing its implementation plan to award
nearly $100 million in grants and $3 billion in additional tax credit
authority to support community-based financial institutions.  These awards,
made available through the Recovery Act, will support loan funds, credit
unions, banks, venture capital firms and other financing entities in serving
our nation's most underserved populations and communities. The CDFI Fund has
a vital role in promoting the new economic growth efforts that the Vice
President will be discussing.  

"I commend Secretary Geithner and the Treasury Department for moving quickly
to implement these innovative programs to help underserved communities,"
said Vice President Biden. "They are exactly what the President and I had in
mind when we put forth the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act." 

In the Treasury Department's ongoing effort to swiftly implement the
President's Recovery Act agenda and get money to businesses and communities
rapidly in this time of economic crisis, the CDFI Fund plans to award the
entirety of Recovery Act funds made available for the CDFI Program in less
than 90 days and will begin disbursing awards within 120 days.  The CDFI
Fund estimates that the grants made this year under its CDFI Program will
create or maintain thousands of jobs, helping to promote economic
opportunity and growth in disadvantaged communities.   

"The Recovery Act is enabling more funds to flow to these community-based
lenders that are responsibly providing financing to help small businesses,
creating needed jobs and saving homes in low-income areas across the country
that have been hit hard by this economic crisis," said Treasury Secretary
Geithner.  "This latest announcement that infuses some of our hardest hit
communities with much needed capital further demonstrates Treasury's
commitment to swift, efficient and effective implementation of the various
components of the Administration's comprehensive economic agenda."    

The CDFI Fund's Recovery Act implementation plan provides details with
respect to how it will deploy these critically needed resources.  As stated
in the plan, the CDFI Fund will be re-opening its 2009 CDFI Program and
Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Program award rounds to enable
additional applicants to apply, and will also be offering current applicants
the opportunity to request larger awards.  Applicants that did apply under
the initial FY 2009 award rounds will have the opportunity to increase the
amounts they requested in their applications to as much as $2 million under
the CDFI Program and $750,000 under the NACA Program.  Further, the Recovery
Act included a waiver of the program's matching funds requirement. 

The Recovery Act authorizes the CDFI Fund to allocate $3 billion of tax
credit authority to qualified Community Development Entities (CDEs) under
the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program, as follows: $1.5 billion to CDEs
that applied for allocation authority under the 2008 NMTC allocation round;
and $1.5 billion to CDEs that apply for allocation authority under the 2009
NMTC allocation round.  

This $3 billion in allocation authority is in addition to the $3.5 billion
that was already allocated for the NMTC in 2009.  The CDFI Fund estimates
that the $6.5 billion in NMTC allocation authority that will be awarded this
year will help to develop or rehabilitate over 33 million square feet of
real estate in low-income communities, supporting thousands of construction
jobs in those communities.  

"With the release of today's implementation plan, the CDFI Fund is poised
and ready to expeditiously distribute these resources efficiently,
accurately, and with full transparency and accountability," said CDFI Fund
Director Donna Gambrell.  

### 

The Treasury Department press release can be found by visiting
http://www.cdfifund.gov/docs/CDFIFundRecoveryActImplementationPlan.pdf 

The CDFI Fund's Recovery Act Implementation Plan can be found by visiting
<http://www.cdfifund.gov/recovery/implementationplan.pdf>
http://www.cdfifund.gov/recovery/implementationplan.pdf 

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