The U.S. Department of the Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other Federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104–13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), U.S. Department of the Treasury, is soliciting comments on the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program) Financial Assistance (FA) and Technical Assistance (TA) Applications for the fiscal years (FY) 2020-2022 funding rounds.
Through the CDFI Program and NACA Program’s FA awards and TA grants, the CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of for-profit and nonprofit community based lending organizations known as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).
This request for public comment seeks to gather information on the CDFI Program and NACA Program Financial Assistance Applications, which includes optional questions for Healthy Food Financing Initiative – Financial Assistance (HFFI-FA), Persistent Poverty Counties – Financial Assistance (PPC-FA) and Disability Funds – Financial Assistance (DF-FA); and the Technical Assistance Application.
Comments concerning the Applications are invited on: (a) whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency’s estimate of the burden of the collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; (d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of technology; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of operation, maintenance, and purchase of services required to provide information.
The CDFI Fund has also provided a list of questions in the Federal Register notice for public review and comment that cover a wide variety of topics for both the FA and TA Applications. For example, the CDFI Fund asks for comment on whether it should update definitions used in the Applications to better reflect usage by the industry; or if there are ways the CDFI Fund can modify or adjust its FA and TA Applications in order to better collect and evaluate information while minimizing the burden on Applicants.
In addition, the CDFI Fund is seeking input on whether changing the CDFI Certification requirement to require FA Applicants to be Certified CDFIs as of the date the Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) is published in the Federal Register would limit the number of organizations that apply for an award or cause an undue hardship on Applicants.
A full list of specific questions can be found in the Federal Register notice.
Comments must be submitted in writing by 60 days after the date of publication of the Federal Register notice via e-mail to Amber Bell, CDFI Program and NACA Program Manager, CDFI Fund, at cdfihelp@cdfi.treas.gov; or via Service Request in the Awards Management Information System (AMIS).
This request for public comment refers to the FY 2020-2022 Applications, and does not impact the FY 2019 Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance Applications. The FY 2019 Applications will be similar to the FY 2018 Applications, and the CDFI Fund currently projects that they will be released sometime during the second quarter of calendar year 2019.
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