Thank you, Mark, for those kind words. I am honored to join all of you this afternoon at the Opportunity Finance Network's 26th annual conference and I would like to begin by congratulating our host, OFN, for recently being named the technical assistance provider under our Capacity-Building Initiative for Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) seeking to finance healthy food options in food deserts.
It is always a great pleasure for me to attend OFN's conference. It is one of the most important events of the year for our industry. It gives us a chance to exchange new ideas as we renew old friendships. And it offers us an opportunity to pause for a few days to reflect on the journey we have taken over the past year, as well as to look ahead at the road that lies before us.
I am especially grateful for this opportunity to speak to you today about both topics - the road we have traveled and the road ahead - because I believe that our industry is in the midst of a truly extraordinary journey, and that how we navigate that journey will play a major role in determining the destiny of the CDFI industry for the years ahead.
Indeed, for all the successes our industry has enjoyed in recent years - and clearly the successes have been considerable - we can ensure our continued success only if we recognize that we are just beginning our journey.
2010 CDFI Fund Accomplishments
When I addressed all of you last year, I spoke about the new environment that our nation's economic crisis had created for the CDFI industry. And I stated that, although the economic downturn had presented very real challenges, it also offered very real opportunities for CDFIs to expand their impact in the communities they serve.
A year ago, we were seeing unprecedented support in Washington for the work, value and significance of CDFIs. It is clear that President Obama believes in community development financial institutions, and the Administration has taken several steps to increase their role in helping to build a long-term foundation for economic recovery.
The first step was the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which provided the CDFI Fund with extra funding - an additional $100 million - to enhance the lending capacity of CDFIs. The new legislation also contained an additional $3 billion of New Markets Tax Credit allocation authority.
This year, the Administration and Congress supported increased funding for the CDFI Fund to almost $244 million - up from $107 million in 2009.
The President's budget for next year continues to reflect his strong support for the CDFI Fund's role in the recovery, as it proposes allocating $250 million in resources for the CDFI Fund.
Such unprecedented support from the Administration and Congress has spurred the CDFI Fund to unprecedented accomplishments this year.
For example we processed almost 1,300 applications for funding across all of the CDFI Fund's programs in 2010, but more importantly, we made 425 awards in 2010 - an increase of 22 percent from last year. Let me repeat that - 22 percent more of you received awards this year.
In addition, we have recently hit a milestone when it comes to certified CDFIs - there are now over 900 certified CDFIs throughout the country and more are being certified every month. There are also well over 4,500 Community Development Entities (CDEs) eligible to participate in our New Markets Tax Credit Program. CDFIs and CDEs are found in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
We certified or re-certified almost 200 entities as CDFIs this year alone, including 95 that were processed over a 60-day period to facilitate participation in Treasury's Community Development Capital Initiative (CDCI).
We recently announced significant new funding for CDFIs through the Community Development Capital Initiative (CDCI). Through this effort, Treasury has invested $570 million in 84 CDFIs in 26 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam. These CDCI investments will enable CDFI banks, thrifts, and credit unions to expand their work in communities by supporting small businesses and families that have been hit hardest by the economic downturn.
The CDFI Fund has also made significant progress on implementing the Capacity-Building Initiative, which is designed to expand technical assistance and training opportunities for CDFIs nationwide. Just last month, we announced the first five contractors who will collaborate with the CDFI Fund to provide training and technical assistance through the initiative.
We announced the first Capital Magnet Fund awards this year. As you know, the Capital Magnet Fund is designed to increase capital investment for affordable housing for low-income families. And we also provided grants through the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program to enable CDFIs and other nonprofits to deliver financial education and counseling services to prospective homebuyers. We have made 32 awards totaling more than $86 million through these two initiatives.
In 2010 we have also made great strides in another area that I have been focused on since I came to the CDFI Fund - improved customer service. Over the past year, we have taken steps to implement a case manager approach for CDFI Program awardees and last month every FY 2010 awardee was assigned a CDFI Program portfolio manager who will act as their point of contact, or "case manager." By now, 2010 awardees should have received an email with the name of their portfolio manager, who will help resolve all questions during the next two or three years.
In addition to focusing on improvements at the program level, the CDFI Fund also took important steps for outlining our longer-term vision by developing a new 5 year Strategic Plan. I am proud that employees at all levels were fully involved in setting out this roadmap for how we will achieve our new objectives.
We also think an important part of building our organization and our industry is being able to show the impact we have, so we are strongly pursuing an improved research capability to better track, analyze and report our results. Demonstrating the tremendous impact and effectiveness of our industry is crucial to gaining support for our mission.
However, as is always the case, we know we can't achieve our objectives alone. And one area where there is consistently room for improvement is partnerships. This past summer, the CDFI Fund and the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch, co-sponsored a series of workshops entitled Economic Development Strategies in Indian Country in five cities across the nation. The one-day workshops gave participants the opportunity to meet with representatives of various federal agencies and other industry experts to explore strategies for promoting economic development in Native Communities.
We've also intensified our work with other federal agencies on program and policy coordination, starting with those represented on our Community Development Advisory Board. CDFI Fund staff has been regularly meeting with the Small Business Administration to find programmatic areas where we can collaborate to better encourage opportunity where it is most needed.
So, as you can see, it has been an exceptionally busy and productive year at the CDFI Fund. I am pleased to report that the staff of the CDFI Fund has performed with great distinction, meeting every challenge we have faced with uncommon dedication and professionalism.
The Road Ahead
Earlier, I discussed the Administration's support of the CDFI Fund. The President's belief in the CDFI Fund's programs underscores the tremendous responsibility that CDFIs have been given in the midst of the economic crisis, and, thanks to the support of the Obama Administration and Congress, we have a variety of exciting new initiatives on the horizon. These include:
- The Healthy Food Financing Initiative, a new multi-year, multi-agency effort to increase the availability of affordable, healthy foods in underserved urban and rural communities;
- Bank On USA, a program designed to help unbanked customers gain access to mainstream financial services and build financial strength;
- The Small Dollar Consumer Loan Program, which helps low- and moderate-income consumers build credit and avoid predatory lending by enabling CDFIs to offer small loans in underserved communities;
- CDFI Bond Guarantee, a program to support CDFI lending and investment activity by providing a source of long-term, patient capital through a federally-guaranteed bond; and
- Small Business Lending Facility, which promotes new lending to small businesses in economically distressed communities, and includes a program to provide certified CDFI loan funds access to 2 percent, eight-year loans.
All of these new programs can offer outstanding opportunities for all types of CDFIs to expand their reach and to better serve their communities.
We'll also be taking steps to further ensure that public funds are going to CDFIs who are serving the hardest hit communities. Applicants in the 2011 round of the CDFI Program will have the option of earning up to 5 priority points for serving highly distressed communities.
In 2011 we have an opportunity to use these new resources and all of the new programs to take our industry to new heights.
I know we can reach those heights, because so many outstanding CDFIs are already leading the way.
Just last night, for example, at the awards ceremony for this year's Wachovia Wells Fargo NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance, you had the chance to learn about the visionary work of four of those outstanding CDFIs: awardees Boston Community Capital and Enterprise Cascadia, and finalists Alternatives Federal Credit Union and Partners for the Common Good.
These four organizations have one important trait in common. All four have looked deeply at the work they do and the communities they serve. They have also searched for innovative and highly effective ways to go beyond business as usual. That is precisely the ability we must all strive to cultivate if we are indeed to take our industry to new heights.
2010 has been another challenging year. You have already done so much to build our industry. And the CDFI Fund has already done so much.
But there is still much to be done.
The opportunities we have today - the resources entrusted to us - are unprecedented. We are truly at the beginning of a new era for the CDFI industry.
And our task now is clear.
As great as our accomplishments have been - and they have been great - we cannot allow ourselves to be content with the progress we have made.
Our task is to continue moving forward - to take our industry to new heights.
Our task is to show to all that community development finance is an essential component of a strategy for long-term economic growth.
Our task is to show to all that we have used the resources with which we have been entrusted wisely and well, and that no matter how the political environment may change, we always deserve an important place at the table.
Our task is to show to all the strength of our industry, and our power to create new opportunity in places where opportunity is needed most.
That is the task at hand and the real opportunity before us.
Thank you.