The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) will be awarding up to $196 million under the fiscal year (FY) 2017 round of the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) and Native American CDFI Assistance Program (NACA Program). This funding was provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (the Act) that was signed into law May 5, 2017 (Public Law 115-31).
Specifically, the CDFI Fund will award up to:
- $158.5 million through the CDFI Program’s Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards,
- $15.5 million through the NACA Program’s Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards, and
- $22 million through the Healthy Food Financing Initiative Financial Assistance awards.
The application period for the FY 2017 round closed on April 28, 2017. The CDFI Fund received 437 applications requesting nearly $564 million for the FY 2017 round of the CDFI Program, the largest number of applications and amount requested ever submitted for a single round of the program. The CDFI Fund received 56 applications requesting $33 million for the FY 2017 round of the NACA Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund received 32 Healthy Food Financing Initiative applications requesting $102 million.
The CDFI Fund is not accepting additional applications for the FY 2017 round.
Persistent Poverty and Individuals with Disabilities
The Act mandates that 10 percent of the FY 2017 funds awarded support activities in persistent poverty counties. The CDFI Fund is currently evaluating the most effective way to deploy these funds, and may contact FY 2017 applicants for more information while reviewing their applications.
The Act also allows the CDFI Fund to expend up to $3 million of the FY 2017 appropriations for the CDFI Program to provide assistance, training, and outreach to “expand investments that benefit individuals with disabilities.” The CDFI Fund will provide more information regarding its activities in this area in FY 2018.
To learn more about the CDFI Program and NACA Program, please visit www.cdfifund.gov/cdfi and www.cdfifund.gov/native. More information about the CDFI Fund and its programs can be found at www.cdfifund.gov.