Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund Director Donna J. Gambrell today announced awards totaling over $22 million to 55 depository institutions for serving economically distressed communities across the nation. The awards are being made through the fiscal year 2009 round of the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program. The activities which qualify these institutions for BEA Program awards occur in census tracts where at least 30 percent of population lives at or below the national poverty level and where the unemployment rate is 1.5 times above the national average.
"The awards being announced today recognize depository institutions that choose to increase their community development activities to communities most in need," said CDFI Fund Director Gambrell. "These 55 awardees provided more than 300 affordable home mortgages, helped approximately 600 small businesses and provided financing to nearly 700 affordable housing and commercial real estate projects, among other activities, in economically distressed communities that are often the first to feel the effects of an economic crisis."
Collectively, these 55 depository institutions: increased their loans and investments in distressed communities by $214.2 million; increased their loan, deposits, and technical assistance to CDFIs by $74.6 million; and increased the provision of financial services in distressed communities by $3.5 million.
An example is City First Bank of DC, a certified CDFI, which provided a loan to the Emergence Community Arts Collective (ECACollective), a Washington-based community services organization and the site of the national award announcement. The mission of the ECACollective is to foster a spirit of community within the neighborhood through social activities, traditional arts classes, support groups and educational seminars.
The loan from City First Bank that qualified for the BEA Program award enabled the ECACollective to now own the historically significant building it is located in and to have a line of credit to enhance their operations. The new building serves as a community center where residents can share traditional forms of arts, crafts, dance and music that will facilitate the human connections regardless of race, gender, religion, age, or economic situation.
The BEA Program awardees were selected after a competitive review of 58 applications received by the CDFI Fund from institutions across the nation that requested more than $57 million in funding under the fiscal year 2009 round.
As part of the award announcement, Director Gambrell also met with several incoming freshman from American University who are volunteering at ECACollective as a part of the University's Freshman Service Experience. She spoke with the students about the importance of community service, a priority of the Obama Administration, and encouraged them to consider a rewarding career in community development finance.
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 some mainstream depository institutions 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 further expand their 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 CDFI Program, please visit www.cdfifund.gov.
2009 BEA Program Awards
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