Treasury Announces More Than $186 Million in Awards to Organizations Serving Low-Income and Native Communities Blank Space Blank Space Announcement is Largest in History for Treasury's CDFI Fund that Helps Spur Job Creation and Economic Growth i

Announcement is Largest in History for Treasury's CDFI Fund that Helps Spur Job Creation and Economic Growth in Communities Across the Country

Milwaukee, WI  Underscoring the U.S. Department of the Treasury's commitment to revitalizing economic and community development across the country, Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) Director Donna J. Gambrell and Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Don Graves today joined U.S. Representative Gwen Moore to announce an aggregate total of $186,853,456 in awards to 210 organizations serving low-income communities. The fiscal year (FY) 2012 awards, provided through the CDFI Fund's Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program), represent the largest single announcement of award dollars and award recipients in the CDFI Fund's history.

Both programs provide awards to certified and emerging Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that specialize in assisting low-income and distressed communities. In addition, the NACA Program has a particular focus of supporting CDFIs that serve primarily Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian communities. In addition, the CDFI Program for the past two years has provided supplemental awards to highly-qualified applicants under the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which aims to increase access to healthy food options in low-income areas.

Speaking to a group of CDFIs that work in Wisconsin, Director Gambrell highlighted how the awards announced today will benefit a broad swathe of Americans. "I am pleased to announce the 2012 awards for the CDFI Program and the NACA Program, which will increase the capacity of CDFIs serving low-income and Native communities across the country," said Director Gambrell. "This year's awardees will continue to provide vital financial services in low-income areas that are typically overlooked by traditional lenders, bettering the lives of Americans nationwide."

The CDFI Fund is awarding more than $175 million in CDFI Program awards and nearly $11.5 million in NACA Program awards.

U.S. Representative Gwen Moore attended the event in Milwaukee, which was held at Antigua, a restaurant that got its start with the help of loans and financial education provided by the Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation (WWBIC), a local CDFI and 2012 CDFI Program awardee. The restaurant has created 19 new jobs for the local community and demonstrates how CDFIs play a critical role supporting local entrepeneurs and small businesses spur job creation and economic growth in communities across the country.

"The financial assistance and educational resources provided by the CDFI and NACA Programs here in Milwaukee are critical to our community's growth and building a strong, robust economy, said Representative Gwen Moore. "I want to thank CDFI Fund Director Donna J. Gambrell, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Treasury Don Graves and the Department of Treasury for choosing the great city of Milwaukee to make this very important announcement. I look forward to continuing to work with them to help provide these much needed resources to our most vulnerable communities."

The 210 awardees-177 CDFI Program awardees and 33 NACA Program awardees-are headquartered in 41 states. Full details of the awardees may be found at the links below and on the CDFI Fund's website, www.cdfifund.gov.

About the CDFI Fund
Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded over $1.7 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations, and financial institutions through the CDFI Program, the Bank Enterprise Awards Program, the Capital Magnet Fund, the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program, and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $33 billion in tax credit authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program.

About the CDFI Program
Through the CDFI Program's Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards, the CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of for-profit and non-profit community based lending organizations known as Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs. These organizations, certified as CDFIs by the U.S. Treasury Department, serve rural and urban low-income people and communities across the nation that lack adequate access to affordable financial products and services. Awards are granted through an annual competitive application process.

Additionally, in FYs 2011 and 2012, the Healthy Food Financing Initiative served as a supplemental funding opportunity under the CDFI Program for eligible CDFIs that expressed an interest in expanding their healthy food-focused financing activities and had received Financial Assistance awards. The Healthy Food Financing Initiative is an interagency initiative involving the CDFI Fund, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture that represents the federal government's first coordinated step to increase the supply of and demand for nutritious foods in low-income urban and rural areas in the United States.

About the NACA Program
Through the CDFI Program's NACA Program Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards, the CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of for-profit and non-profit community based lending organizations known as Native Community Development Financial Institutions, or Native CDFIs, and entities proposing to become or create Native CDFIs. These organizations serve low-income Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian people and communities across the nation that lack adequate access to affordable financial products and services. Awards are granted through an annual competitive application process.