Call Your Senator on Appropriations for the CDFI Fund

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government today approved a FY2016 funding measure that prioritizes national programs to enforce U.S. laws, spur small business growth and maintain a fair and efficient judicial system. Subcommittee approval of the FY2016 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill clears it for committee consideration on Thursday.

 

The Subcommittee bill recommends a level of $221 million for the CDFI Fund. This amount is $9.5 million below the current rate and $12.5 below the Fiscal 2016 Budget request.The CDFI Coalition urges everyone to call their Senator to urge a restoration of the reduction and support for the CDFI Fund’s budget request.

The full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark-up the FY 2016 bill tomorrow morning at 10:00 am (eastern). Please make your call today.

View the list of the Members of the Appropriations Committee.

Key points:

  • The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) was established within the U.S. Department of Treasury in 1994  to promote community development in economically distressed urban and rural communities by investing in and growing Community Development Financial Institutions( CDFIs) across the country. Since 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $2 billion on a competitive basis to CDFIs, including Native American CDFIs, small and emerging CDFIs and financial institutions through the BEA Program;
  • In FY 2014, CDFIs made over 28,000 loans or investments totaling nearly $3 billion, financed over 12,000 small businesses and over 25,000 housing units and created more than 35,000 jobs;
  • A reduction of the amount proposed by the Financial Services Subcommittee bill will result in fewer financial products and services to economically disadvantaged communities and populations, fewer jobs and less economic growth in rural and urban communities across America; and
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