LISTENING TOUR LAUNCHES: JOIN US ON TWITTER @CDFIFUND

I am very excited to kick-off the CDFI Fund National Listening Tour at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco next Tuesday. To enhance the dialogue, the CDFI Fund is launching a Twitter account TODAY! Follow us @CDFIFund.

I look forward to engaging with stakeholders across the country and hearing what you think are the most important issues that the CDFI Fund needs to consider as it develops a "Framework for the Future."

The "Framework for the Future" will set the vision and strategic directives that will guide the CDFI Fund's programs and operations. To be relevant and catalytic, we need to hear your thoughts. The Listening Sessions are designed around the following six topics.

• Program Effectiveness: Are the CDFI Fund's programs working optimally for communities? What should be improved and how?
• Access: What more can the CDFI Fund do to reach communities that need CDFIs but are either not being served by them or have limited access to CDFI Fund support?
• Innovation and Scaling: How can the CDFI Fund best support CDFIs to continue to innovate? What will it take to scale solutions that are known to work?
• Customer Service: What works well at the CDFI Fund and what needs to be improved?
• Data: How can the CDFI Fund support the use of data to strengthen the industry and increase its impact?
• Blind Spots: What are the issues that should be on the CDFI Fund's radar screen but are not?

If you are unable to attend one of the Listening Sessions in person, please take a few minutes today to share your thoughts on these six topics by completing our online survey, available at www.cdfifund.gov/thenextfiveyears.

If you would like to track our progress while we're on the road, we will be providing updates using the hashtag #CDFIFundListens. So please visit https://twitter.com/CDFIFund and sign up to follow us today. I look forward to hearing from you!

Annie Donovan