In late-February, the CDFI Fund announced that 252 CDFIs received $194.1 million in Financial Assistance (FA) awards through the fiscal year (FY) 2022 round of the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program), including Healthy Food Financing Initiative-Financial Assistance (HFFI-FA) awards, Disability Funds-Financial Assistance (DF-FA) awards, and Persistent Poverty County-Financial Assistance (PPC-FA) awards. This was preceded by an announcement in September 2022 indicating that 218 organizations received $27.6 million in Technical Assistance (TA) awards through the FY 2022 round of the CDFI Program and NACA Program.
Combined, 470 organizations received $221.7 million in FA and TA awards, making it the largest number of recipients ever in the history of the CDFI Program and NACA Program. The CDFI Program and NACA Program also experienced the largest number of organizations ever to apply—719 organizations requested a combined level of $577.9 million in awards. Roughly 40% of all Certified CDFIs applied for FA or TA awards, and an additional 128 organizations requested TA awards for the FY 2022 round.
The sheer number of FA and TA awards is not the only noteworthy statistic from this round of the CDFI Program and NACA Program. For example:
First time Award Recipients: The awards included 114 organizations that were first-time Award Recipients. A total of $26.2 million in FA and TA awards were made to first-time Recipients, which represents more than 24% of all Award Recipients.
Serving areas of Persistent Poverty: The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022 (Pub. L. 117-103) required that 10% of the funds awarded by the CDFI Fund provided under this appropriation be used for awards to support investments that serve populations living in Persistent Poverty Counties (PPCs). PPCs are defined as counties where 20% or more of the population has lived in poverty over the past 30 years and exist in both rural and urban areas of the United States.
For the FY 2022 CDFI Program and NACA Program award round, 31.2% of all award recipients – 147 CDFIs – committed to serving PPCs. These 147 CDFIs received $20.4 million in PPC-FA awards specifically for investments in PPCs. In addition, 59 organizations headquartered in PPCs received nearly $7.5 million in CDFI Program and NACA Program TA awards.
Historically, CDFI Program recipients made more than 15.6% of their loans and investments in PPCs.
Geographic representation: Beyond areas of persistent poverty, the FY 2022 CDFI Program and NACA Program awards will reach a wide variety of low-income communities across the United States. The recipients will serve rural, major urban, and minor urban target markets. In particular, 25.3% of the Recipients will serve rural counties.
The FY 2022 CDFI Program and NACA Program Award Recipients are headquartered in 47 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Many CDFIs have operations in states or territories beyond where they are headquartered. Altogether the FY 2022 Award Recipient operate in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Additionally, the proportionality of CDFI Program and NACA Program Award Recipients by geography type closely mirrored the institution types in the Application pool.
Table 1: Primary Geographic Markets Served
| Geographic Market | # of Applicants | % of Applicants | # of Awards | % of Awards |
| Major Urban | 263 | 36.6% | 161 | 34.3% |
| Micropolitan Area | 60 | 8.3% | 36 | 7.7% |
| Minor Urban | 217 | 30.2% | 153 | 32.5% |
| Rural | 178 | 24.8% | 119 | 25.3% |
| Other | 1 | 0.1% | 1 | 0.2% |
| Total | 719 | 100% | 470 | 100% |
Institutional Proportionality: CDFIs can be various types of financial institutions, from banks or credit unions to loan funds or venture capital funds (VC Funds). The Application review process for the CDFI Program and NACA Program is designed for a neutral review of the Applications regardless of institution type. As a result, the percentage of organizations that received awards by institution type is similar to the percentage of institution types that applied.
Table 2: Financial Institution Types that Received CDFI Program and NACA Program Awards vs. Applied
| Institution Type | Total # of Applicants | % of Applicants | Total Amount Requested | Total # of Awardees | % of Awardees | Total Amount Awarded |
| Bank/Bank Holding Company | 68 | 9.5% | $88,350,000 | 45 | 9.6% | $35,321,700 |
| Credit Union | 255 | 35.5% | $179,325,000 | 178 | 37.9% | $60,982,500 |
| Loan Fund | 383 | 53.3% | $303,018,000 | 243 | 51.7% | $123,848,200 |
| VC Fund | 11 | 1.5% | $6,919,000 | 3 | 0.6% | $1,492,000 |
| Sponsoring Entity | 1 | 0.1% | $150,000 | 1 | 0.2% | $150,000 |
| Other | 1 | 0.1% | $125,000 | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Grand Total CDFI & NACA Programs | 719 | 100% | $577,887,000 | 470 | 100% | $221,704,400 |
Enhancing CDFI Program and NACA Program Impact: Back in 2017, the CDFI Fund made extensive changes to the FA and TA Applications, which were designed to ensure the CDFI Program and NACA Program awards would reach additional existing and new CDFIs, as well as allow the CDFI Fund to increase affordable financial products and services in underserved communities across the country.
The above information underscores the depth and breadth of organizational participation in the CDFI Program and NACA Program. However, over the past several years the CDFI industry has grown substantially. The COVID-19 pandemic certainly highlighted the disparities in health and financial wealth outcomes in communities CDFIs serve.
As a result, we are assessing program policy objectives, performing an examination of the CDFI and NACA FA and TA Applications and Application Evaluation processes, as well as how we measure economic distress and impact. In undertaking this review, the CDFI Fund is striving to be intentional in supporting CDFIs and also address needs for results-oriented data and meaningful compliance mandates.
As I have previously mentioned, our goal is an Application that effectively and efficiently allows you to tell us about your capacity for impact. We look forward to unveiling the new Application when we open a combined FY 2023 and FY 2024 CDFI Program and NACA Program round later this fall.
Pooja P. Patel is the Program Manager for the CDFI Program and the CDFI Fund's Native Initiatives
