U.S. Treasury Awards $20.1 Million in Awards to Banks for Work in Economically Distressed Communities Nationwide

• 2008 BEA Overview of Awardees
• 2008 BEA List of Awardees
• 2008 BEA Profiles of Awardees
• 2008 BEA Award Booklet

Chicago, IL - Director Donna J. Gambrell, of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, visited Chicago, Illinois today to announce awards totaling $20.1 million for 52 depository institutions serving economically distressed communities across the nation. The awards are being made through the fiscal year 2008 round of the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program.

"The BEA Program recognizes the key role played by depository institutions in community development lending and investing," said CDFI Fund Director Gambrell. "Today we recognize 52 banks from across the nation that have increased their community development activities in distressed communities."

Treasury held the national award announcement at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago as the site for the national award announcement to not only highlight the eleven Chicago-based awardees, but to focus on the fact that nine of the eleven are minority depository institutions actively working in some of Chicago's most economically distressed communities.

The awardees were selected after a competitive review of 60 applications received by the CDFI Fund from institutions across the nation that requested more than $49 million in funding under the fiscal year 2008 round of the BEA Program.

About the BEA Program

The BEA Program was enacted to provide an incentive to FDIC-insured banks and thrifts to increase either their level of support to certified community development financial institutions (CDFIs); increase their provision of loans, investments and financial services in distressed communities, such as opening new savings accounts, providing mortgages or investing in local small businesses; or both. CDFIs are specialized community-based financial institutions that are able to respond to gaps that exist in their local markets.

Through the BEA Program, the CDFI Fund recognizes the key role played by mainstream depository institutions -- banks and thrifts -- in promoting community revitalization through the provision of essential financial services, credit, and investment capital. The BEA Program complements the community development activities of banks and thrifts by providing financial incentives to expand investments in CDFIs and to increase lending, investment, and service activities within economically distressed communities. Providing monetary awards for increasing community development activities leverages the CDFI Fund's dollars and puts more capital to work in distressed communities throughout the nation.

For more information on the BEA Program, visit the BEA Program webpage.