Message from CDFI Fund Director Pravina Raghavan

As I close on my first four months as the Director of the CDFI Fund, I wanted to provide an update on our programs and highlight a few key announcements.

During the CDFI Fund Advisory Board’s April meeting, I mentioned to the members that the revised CDFI Certification Application and reporting tools are front and center of my focus these days. I know that protecting the values of the CDFI Fund is something important to the industry, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Recently, we announced that we were extending deadlines for currently Certified CDFIs to apply for Certification under the Revised Certification Application. This was done to address several common concerns that Applicants have raised with the CDFI Fund. For example, this change reduces reporting burden on Certified CDFIs required to submit the CDFI Award Recipients Transaction Level Report (TLR) by aligning it with the applicants’ CDFI Certification Application submission deadline, reducing the chance that Award Recipients will need to amend existing TLR submissions in order to complete their CDFI Certification Application.  In addition, it provides additional time for organizations to adjust their activities to better meet the updated tests within the CDFI Certification Application and review the CDFI Fund’s guidance material.

The CDFI Fund recently announced that it published a revised Interim Rule with a Request for Comment for the Capital Magnet Fund, as well as a Request for Comment on the Capital Magnet Fund reporting requirements. These are important steps in refining this vital affordable housing program, which has not been updated since 2016, and I encourage all interested parties to provide input. Over the coming months, the CDFI Fund will be providing additional details and guidance regarding implementation of the revised Interim Rule.

I was honored to travel with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to Minneapolis to highlight the administration’s housing initiatives on June 24 & 25, 2024. We also met with Minnesota-based CDFIs to highlight the important work of Certified CDFIs. During this trip, Secretary Yellen announced a new program that will be administered by the CDFI Fund. The new program will primarily focus on increasing the supply of affordable housing. We are very early in the planning stages, so there is not much I can share. Please stay tuned. I will update you when I can.

I would also like to share with you that the next round of the New Markets Tax Credit Program will make $10 billion in Allocation Authority available. Although we do not have exact dates, the round will span calendar years (CY) 2024 and 2025. The round will open later this fall and the Allocation Application deadline will be early in CY 2025, with Allocations being announced in fall 2025.

Below, you will find an overview of the status of each of our program rounds:

Bank Enterprise Award Program

• The  fiscal year (FY) 2024 round opened on April 26, 2024, making up to $40 million available. 
• Applications were due on June 25, 2024, and the CDFI Fund will release the demand statistics soon.
• The CDFI Fund anticipates announcing the FY 2024 awards in fall 2024.

Capital Magnet Fund

• The FY 2024 round opened on February 14, 2024, making approximately $246.5 million in awards available.
• Applications were due on April 16, 2024. A total of 136 organizations submitted applications requesting more than $1.06 billion in funding. 
• The CDFI Fund anticipates announcing the FY 2024 awards in fall 2024.
• As I highlighted above, on June 24, 2024, the CDFI Fund announced that the Capital Magnet Fund published a revised Interim Rule and Request for Comments on June 25, 2024. Comments are due August 26, 2024.

CDFI Bond Guarantee Program

• The FY 2024 round opened on February 23, 2024, making up to $500 million in bond guarantee authority available for Eligible CDFIs.
• The deadline for Qualified Issuer Applications was April 16, 2024, and the deadline for Guarantee Applications was April 23, 2024. 
• The CDFI Fund will announce the guarantees that will be made at the end of September 2024.

CDFI Equitable Recovery Program

• The CDFI Fund published a Compliance FAQ document on April 24, 2024, which provides guidance to support ERP awardees in their reporting requirements. Awardees will need to start reporting impact data in FY 2024 as outlined in their Award Agreements.
• This fall we plan on convening a series of in-person meetings providing technical assistance to ERP Award Recipients.

CDFI Program

• The FY 2024 round of the CDFI Program opened on December 8, 2024, and Applications were due on February 15, 2024. 
• FY 2023 and FY 2024 appropriations were combined for this round.
• Over $1.13 billion was requested in Base-Financial Assistance (FA) and Technical Assistance (TA) awards alone.¹ This was a record-breaking round with an overall increase of 42% in FA applications and an 18% increase in TA applications.
• The CDFI Fund anticipates announcing the FY 2024 awards in two portions, FA first and TA second, both of which will be announced before the end of this calendar year.

Native Initiatives – Native American CDFI Assistance Program

• The FY 2024 round of the NACA Program opened on December 8, 2024, and Applications were due on February 15, 2024. 
• FY 2023 and FY 2024 appropriations were combined for this round.
• Over $65.1 million was requested in Base-FA and TA awards alone. This was also a record-breaking round with an overall increase of 28% in NACA-FA applications. 
• The CDFI Fund anticipates announcing the FY 2024 awards in two tranches both of which will be announced before the end of this calendar year.

New Markets Tax Credit Program

• The Calendar Year (CY) 2023 round opened on October 23, 2023, making $5 billion in allocation Authority available.
• The Allocation Application deadline was December 19, 2023.
• The CDFI Fund received 196 applications requesting an aggregate total of $14.7 billion in NMTC allocation authority, nearly three times the $5 billion in authority available.
• The CDFI Fund anticipates announcing CY 2023 allocations late summer or early fall. 
• On February 23, 2024, the CDFI Fund published in the Federal Register a Request for Public Comment on the NMTC Application. This is part of the three-year cycle to renew the application as part of the Paperwork Reduction Act. Comments were due by April 23, 2024. 
• I’d also like to highlight once again two important reports and a self-assessment guide under the NMTC Native Initiative, which were released at the beginning of this fiscal year.
• The CDFI Fund anticipates opening a combined CY 2024 and CY 2025 round later this fall.  The Allocation Application deadline will be in early CY 2025, with Allocations being announced in fall 2025.

Small Dollar Loan Program

• The FY 2024 round opened October 20, 2023, and Applications were due on December 20, 2023.
• FY 2023 and FY 2024 appropriations were combined for this round.
• A total of 89 organizations submitted applications requesting over $33.5 million in funding, which is nearly twice the amount of expected available funding.
• A total of $18 million was awarded to 66 Certified CDFIs on April 16, 2024.

Finally, I’d like to speak to the future of the CDFI Fund. On September 19, 2024, we will convene the next meeting of our Advisory Board in Washington, DC. This meeting will provide a forum for us to recognize the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act, which created the CDFI Fund. As much as this gathering will be about celebrating the past accomplishments of the CDFI Fund we will also use this time to think about its future through presentations and discussions. I hope you will consider joining us or watching via our webcast.

In closing, I want to publicly thank the CDFI Fund’s staff for their dedication to the mission and vision of the CDFI Fund and to recognize Marcia Sigal who served as the acting director before my appointment. Together, they did not skip a beat and moved the important work of the CDFI Fund forward as evidenced in the CDFI Fund’s FY 2023 Annual Report.

Enjoy your summer!

^{1, 2} This total does not include requests for Persistent Poverty County-FA awards, Disability Funds-FA awards, or Healthy Foods Financing Initiative-FA awards.