Community Development Financial Institutions Program

The Department of the Treasury is issuing a revised interim rule implementing the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program) administered by the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (Fund). The purpose of the CDFI Program is to promote economic revitalization and community development through investment in and assistance to Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). Under the CDFI Program, the Fund provides financial and technical assistance in the form of grants, loans, equity investments and deposits to competitively selected CDFIs. The Fund provides such assistance to CDFIs to enhance their ability to make loans and investments, and to provide services for the benefit of designated investment areas, targeted populations, or both. After selection for such assistance, each CDFI will enter into an assistance agreement with the Fund that will include performance goals, matching funds requirements and reporting requirements. This revised interim rule: Revises, clarifies and streamlines CDFI certification and funding eligibility requirements; affords CDFIs greater flexibility in meeting matching funds requirements; clarifies the funding and certification applications' content requirements and evaluation criteria; reduces the frequency of previously approved collections of information by replacing some of the quarterly reporting requirements with semi-annual reporting requirements and other quarterly reporting requirements with annual reporting requirements; and makes other technical and clarifying changes that the Fund believes will inure to the benefit of CDFIs and entities proposing to become CDFIs.