Today I spoke at the 2016 CDFI Coalition Institute to discuss the CDFI Fund's recent accomplishments and our upcoming objectives. You can read my full speech here, but I wanted to take a moment to emphasize an important development for the CDFI Fund that I discussed: the CDFI Fund’s Framework for the Future and our new Guiding Principles.
Continuous growth in the community development field requires ever increasing support and input from CDFIs and CDEs across the nation. To that end, in FY 2015 we began a strategic effort to develop a comprehensive plan to support this growth. Weighing the generous public input we received from our Listening Tour last summer, we have created the Framework for the Future – our strategic roadmap. This Framework is built upon five Guiding Principles that drive our strategic efforts to increase impact in underserved communities:
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Increase the impact of the CDFI Fund network by supporting the growth, reach, and performance of CDFIs and CDEs.
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Foster a diversity of CDFI and CDE activities and geographies while holding certified CDFIs and CDEs to high standards of integrity.
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Build the capacity of the CDFI Fund and its network to capture, produce, and utilize data to improve decision-making, performance, and accountability.
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Ease the customer experience and create on-ramps for new and emerging CDFIs and CDEs to access CDFI Fund programs.
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Promote awareness of CDFIs in order to expand their access to new resources.
The CDFI Fund is moving at a rapid pace to help CDFIs and CDEs improve the lives of people living in distressed communities throughout America. Our efforts are all geared to help our network of financial institutions maximize economic impact critical to creating an inclusive economy that helps every American prosper. We will be utilizing our five Guideposts as we develop a five year strategic plan. I thank everyone who has provided us with input over the past year, whether through the Listening Tour or otherwise. This input is driving our efforts. I look forward to continued engagement in the year to come!
