Newsroom

November 24, 2015

CDFI Fund challenge winner will match small biz with lenders

The Association for Enterprise Opportunity, the winner of the 2015 Community Development Financial Institutions Fund Innovation Challenge, has been awarded a one-year contract to test an innovative way to partner CDFIs with small businesses in low-income areas.

The CDFI Fund created the Innovation Challenge as a way to expand and increase investments in underserved communities across the country, especially in rural areas. This new partnership between the fund and AEO aims to develop an assessment tool to match small businesses searching for loans with a CDFI that may be able to meet their needs when other lenders cannot.

Credit unions with NCUA's low-income designation automatically qualify to apply for CDFI certification. That certification enables them to apply for assistance and grants from the CDFI Fund for serving economically distressed areas.

The CDFI Fund is administered through the Treasury Department. In a letter last month, NAFCU urged Treasury to modernize and streamline requirements for its CDFI Program.