Today the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) opened the fiscal year (FY) 2016 funding round for the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program).

Congress appropriated the CDFI Fund $190.5 million in FY 2016 in Financial Assistance (FA) and Technical Assistance (TA) awards to be divided as follows: $153 million for CDFI Program awards; $22 million for Healthy Food Financing Initiative Financial Assistance (HFFI-FA) awards; and $15.5 million for NACA Program awards.

The awards will support Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) providing affordable financing and related services to low-income communities and populations that lack access to credit, capital, and financial services.

CDFI Program Overview

Through the CDFI Program, the CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of CDFIs to serve low-income people and communities lacking adequate access to affordable financial products and services. The CDFI Fund invests in certified CDFIs by providing Financial Assistance awards to applicants that have demonstrated the financial and managerial capacity to deliver financial products and services to a low-income target market and to leverage additional resources effectively. Through Technical Assistance grants, the CDFI Fund enables certified CDFIs and emerging entities working toward CDFI certification to build their capacity as lending institutions. For additional details about eligibility, application requirements, and available funding under the CDFI Program, please view the CDFI Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).

NACA Program Overview

In 2004, the CDFI Fund introduced the NACA Program, which was specifically designed to encourage the creation and strengthening of CDFIs that primarily serve Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities (Native Communities). Organizations funded serve a wide range of Native Communities, and reflect a diversity of institutions in various stages of development from organizations in the early planning stages of creating a CDFI, to tribal entities working to certify an existing lending program, to established CDFIs in need of further assistance. The CDFI Fund awards both Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards under the NACA Program. For additional details about eligibility, application requirements, and available funding under the NACA Program, please view the NACA Program Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA).

Healthy Food Financing Initiative-Financial Assistance Overview

In FY 2016, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative-Financial Assistance will serve as a supplemental funding opportunity under the CDFI Program and NACA Program for eligible CDFIs and Native CDFIs that express an interest in expanding their healthy food-focused financing activities and are selected to receive Financial Assistance awards under the FY 2016 rounds of the CDFI Program or NACA Program. For additional details about eligibility, application requirements, and available funding under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative-Financial Assistance Program, please view the CDFI Program and/or NACA Program NOFAs.

Deadlines

• The deadline for submission of the SF-424 is Friday, March 18, 2016 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time (ET). All Applicants must submit their SF-424s electronically through Grants.gov.

• The deadline for submission of the CDFI Program and NACA Program applications in AMIS is Monday, April 18, 2016 at 11:59 pm ET.

• The CDFI Fund strongly encourages all materials to be submitted at least three days before each corresponding deadline (Grants.gov and AMIS). The last day the CDFI Fund will be answering questions about the FY 2016 application round is Friday, April 15, 2016 at 5:00 pm ET.

Please see the applicable NOFAs for more information on submitting the CDFI Program and NACA Program applications.

Application Materials

Reference copies of the NOFAs and all application materials can be found on the CDFI Fund's website at:

• CDFI Program: www.cdfifund.gov/cdfi  

• NACA Program: www.cdfifund.gov/native  

In order to provide potential applicants with as much time as possible, the CDFI Fund is posting the NOFAs and application materials for the CDFI Program and NACA Program on the CDFI Fund's website today in advance of the electronic application being available next week.

The CDFI Fund will send out an additional notification when the electronic application is available in AMIS for application submission. Applicants are strongly encouraged to read and view all application materials, including the NOFA, application guidance, webinars and presentations.

Required Application Systems

• AMIS: The CDFI Fund's Awards Management Information System (AMIS) is an enterprise-wide business system developed to replace a number of legacy systems and to serve as a modern platform to eventually support all CDFI Fund programs through each phase of the programs' life cycle.

  All Applicants must use AMIS to create, complete, and submit applications materials for the CDFI Program and NACA Program this year. Please see the NOFAs for more information on submitting the CDFI Program and NACA Program applications.

• Grants.gov: In addition to the application materials submitted through AMIS, all Applicants are required to submit a SF-424 electronically through Grants.gov. The SF-424 can be found in Grants.gov under the funding opportunity number for each program.

  Applicants that do not submit an SF-424 electronically through Grants.gov by the stated deadline will not be eligible to submit application materials in AMIS.

• SAM.gov: In order to submit the necessary SF-424 form via Grants.gov, Applicants must have an active System for Awards Management (SAM) account. Each Applicant is advised to first make sure its SAM.gov account is active and valid before beginning its preparation of the other Application materials in Grants.gov or AMIS. Applicants should allow ample time to complete the entire registration and submission process well in advance of the application deadline. The SAM.gov website is www.SAM.gov.  

All applicants must be registered in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and AMIS to apply for funding. Organizations should confirm that their accounts are up-to-date as soon as possible in order to avoid potential application submission problems. New potential applicants are encouraged to begin the registration process for each of the systems now and will find registration guidance on each website.

Learn About Applying to the CDFI and NACA Programs

The CDFI Fund is providing the following opportunities to learn more about the FY 2016 CDFI Program and NACA Program funding round:

1. In-Person Application Workshops: CDFI Fund staff will conduct in-person FY 2016 CDFI Program and NACA Program Application Workshops in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Washington, DC; and Atlanta, Georgia. Due to security requirements at federal facilities where the workshops will be held, anyone wishing to attend the in-person application workshops must register through the online registration system link provided below. Individuals who do not register before the applicable registration deadlines, and thus do not appear on the registration list for the facility, will not be admitted.

   View the registration page for the application workshops and registration deadlines here.

2. Q&A Webinars: The CDFI Fund is conducting four targeted live webinars to provide a forum to answer applicant questions about the FY 2016 CDFI Program and NACA Program applications. Please view the list of scheduled webinars on the CDFI Program and NACA Program webpages.

3. Online Presentations: The CDFI Fund has created series of targeted PowerPoint presentations and has posted them on its CDFI Program and NACA Program webpages. The presentations cover a variety of information and are a good starting point for all applicants.

4. Pre-Recorded Webcasts: The CDFI Fund will be providing pre-recorded webcasts for applicants on its website in the near future. The webcasts will be made available in the Application Materials sections of the CDFI Program and NACA Program webpages.

Questions

For more information on the CDFI Program, the NACA Program, the Q&A webinars, or the application workshops, please contact the CDFI Fund's Help Desk by e-mailing cdfihelp@cdfi.treas.gov or by calling (202) 653-0421 (option 1).