OCC: Community Affairs - Rural Development Banking Resource Directory

This directory provides descriptions and contact information for a number of organizations and web sites that can provide resources to banks interested in lending, investing, or providing retail financial services in rural communities. These activities are organized under following:

USDA Business and Cooperative Programs - Promoting a dynamic business environment in rural America is the goal of Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS), Business Programs (BP). BP works in partnership with the private sector and community-based organizations to provide financial assistance, through grants and loans, and business planning. BP helps fund projects that create or preserve quality jobs and/or promote a clean rural environment. The financial resources of RBS BP are often leveraged with those of other public and private credit source lenders to meet business and credit needs in underserved areas. Recipients of these programs may include individuals, corporations, partnerships, cooperatives, public bodies, nonprofit corporations, Indian tribes, and private companies.

USDA's Business and Industry Loan Guarantee Program provides business and industry loan guarantees up to 90 percent of a loan made by a commercial lender. Loan proceeds may be used for working capital, machinery and equipment, buildings and real estate, and certain types of debt refinancing. The primary purpose is to create and maintain employment and improve the economic climate in rural communities.

Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund stimulates the creation and expansion of CDFIs by providing incentives to traditional banks and thrifts through the Bank Enterprise Act awards program. The CDFI Fund also provides relatively small infusions of capital to institutions that serve distressed communities and low-income individuals. Technical assistance grants are also provided to strengthen the capacity of community development financial institutions.

Rural Economic Area Partnership Zones - USDA sponsored pilot for rural revitalization and community development called Rural Economic Area Partnership (REAP) Zones. The REAP Initiative was established to address critical issues related to constraints in economic activity and growth, low density settlement patterns, stagnant or declining employment, and isolation that has led to disconnection from markets, suppliers, and centers of information and finance. Focusing on economic development planning and the formation of public/private partnerships, there are five REAP Zones located in underserved rural areas. The benefits of REAP Zones include: improving the viability of the local community, assisting the local community in developing cooperative strategies to expand community functions, and providing financial and technical assistance to implement citizen-based strategic plans.

Federal Enterprise Zone and Empowerment Communities are programs providing special financial incentives for businesses that locate in certain designated areas. This website contains a listing of Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities located in rural areas

National Main Street Center has been working with communities across the nation since 1980 to revitalize their historic or traditional commercial areas. Based in historic preservation, the Main Street approach was developed to save historic commercial architecture and the fabric of American communities' built environment, but has become a powerful economic development tool as well.
www.mainstreet.org

OCC's Rural Development Teleseminar- PowerPoint presentation and transcript (PDF 246KB) from an OCC teleseminar on financing rural development. Included presentations by Julie Cripe, President and COO, OMNIBANK, N.A., Texas, William Glover, Assistant Deputy Comptroller, OCC and Karen Tucker, Senior Compliance Specialist, OCC.

Community Developments "Shaping the Future of Rural America-Banks and Economic Development" (PDF) OCC's Fall 2002 Community Developments newsletter includes articles that address how financial institutions are building partnerships with community organizations and others that lead to increased access to commercial and job generating economic development credit in rural communities.

Native American Banking Resource Directory - This directory provides descriptions and contact information for a sampling of organizations that can offer resources to banks interested in lending, investing, or providing retail financial services in Indian country.

National Association of Development Organizations (NADO) provides training, advocacy, and information for regional development organizations primarily in rural communities. NADO also provides a network for its members to share ideas and innovative projects through its Economic Development Digest, which highlights best practices in rural economic development.
www.nado.org

National Rural Development Partnership (NRDP) is a national initiative administered by USDA which uses state collaboratives to bring together key rural players in their states to address critical rural community concerns. The NRDP highlights effective strategies for rural community and economic development and also maintains a web clearinghouse on rural development.

Office of Thrift Supervision's publication, Best Practices in Rural Development , is a compilation of examples of twelve "best practices" in mortgage lending and economic development by thrifts in rural areas in the United States.

USDA's Research, Education, and Economics (REE) identifies, develops, and manages programs to support university-based and other institutional research and education that supports agriculture and rural communities. Programs focus on a range of topics from financial literacy to supporting small businesses.

Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) is a nonprofit organization that assists rural communities in 12 western states. They build partnerships, advocate for small communities and develop capacity, especially for the development of public facilities.
www.rcac.org

USDA Rural Development (RD) provides financial program support for the development of essential public facilities and services such as water and sewer systems, housing, health clinics, emergency service facilities and electric and telephone service. RD supports economic development by guaranteeing loans to businesses through banks and community-based lending pools. RD also provides technical assistance to help agriculture and other cooperatives get started and improve membership services. Technical assistance is also provided to communities in order to assist them in achieving community empowerment.

Farmer Mac is America's secondary market for first mortgage agricultural real estate loans, and
was created by Congress to improve the availability of mortgage credit to America's farmers, ranchers and rural homeowners, businesses and communities. Farmer Mac does this primarily by purchasing qualified loans from lenders, thereby replenishing their source of funds to make new loans.
www.farmermac.com

USDA's Farm Service Agency offers direct and guaranteed farm ownership and operating loans to farmers who are temporarily unable to obtain private, commercial credit.

Community Developments "A Place to Call Home - Financing Housing in Rural America" (PDF) OCC's Spring 2003 Community Developments newsletter includes articles that address how financial institutions are building partnerships with community organizations and others that lead to increased access to financing for affordable housing in rural America.

Federal Housing Finance Board's Affordable Housing Program (AHP) encourages mortgage lending to underserved rural communities by participating member banks. The AHP subsidizes the cost of housing for very low-income and low- or moderate-income owner-occupied and rental housing.

Federal Home Loan Bank's MPF Program Allies With USDA
The Mortgage Partnership Finance program of the Federal Home Loan Banks has announced a new partnership with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Program. Under the arrangement, approved FHLBanks participating in the MPF program can purchase RHS Section 502 government-guaranteed loans from qualified members, including commercial banks, thrifts, credit unions, and insurance companies. USDA Rural Development Guaranteed Loans are offered to qualifying low- and moderate-income families to purchase or refinance homes in rural areas with a population of less than 10,000 and non-metropolitan communities with populations of 10,000-25,000, the MPF reported. The partnership enables the FHLBank of Chicago, which pioneered the MPF program, and the FHLBank of Pittsburgh to buy such loans from their members as "a competitive alternative to the secondary mortgage market." The MPF program can be found online at http://www.fhlbmpf.com, and the Rural Development Program can be found at http://www.rurdev.usda.gov.

Housing Assistance Council (HAC) provides loans at below-market interest rates to rural housing developers as well as technical assistance, research, and training to public and private organizations. HAC publishes Rural Voices, a newsletter that provides ideas on funding, planning, and building affordable housing and livable rural communities; HAC News, a biweekly newsletter with brief updates on topics related to rural housing and community development; and dozens of research reports and technical manuals, most of which are available on HAC's website.
www.ruralhome.org

Low Income Housing Tax Credits are used extensively in rural areas to subsidize the cost of creating multifamily rental housing. Under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program, taxpayers may take a credit against federal income taxes for qualified rental housing development expenditures. The OCC's Community Development Resource page includes a description of the Low Income Tax Credit Program (Spring 2006 Community Development Investments) and a Community Developments Fact Sheet on Low Income Housing Tax Credits (PDF) .

Rural LISC's mission is to build the capacity of resident-led rural CDCs, increase their production and impact, demonstrate the value of investing in and through rural CDCs and make the resource and policy environment more supportive of rural CDCs and their work. Rural LISC provides more than 70 partner organizations across the country with training, technical assistance, and funding to address the problems rural communities face. Rural Home Loan Partnership (RHLP) was created in 1996 by four national organizations involved in rural housing. The purpose of the partnership is to create affordable housing in rural communities utilizing the USDA's Section 502 Single Family Direct Loan set-aside in partnership with financial institutions and local community organizations. Today the RHLP has grown to 12 national and over 250 local partners cooperating to bring outreach, homeownership counseling, and additional mortgage lending resources to rural communities throughout the country.
www.ruralisc.org

NeighborWorks® America Rural Initiative (NRI)
NeighborWorks® America administers the NeighborWorks Rural Initiative which provides funding to community development corporations and local non-profit organizations in over 75 rural communities across the country. These organizations provide homeownership education counseling, develop and renovate single- and multi-family housing, and promote economic development in rural areas across the country.
http://www.nw.org/network/neighborworksprogs/rural/default.asp

USDA Rural Housing Finance Programs: Loan Guarantee, Leveraged Loan, and Multi-Family Loan Community Developments Fact Sheet
USDA offers financing programs that work with the private market to finance affordable housing. This fact sheet provides descriptive information about both the Section 502 Loan Guarantee Program and the Section 538 Multi-Family Loan Program, and how banks can participate in the programs.

USDA Preservation Information Exchange (PIX) is a web site for those interested in preserving affordable multifamily rental properties. PIX can be found at: https://pix.sc.egov.usda.gov/.

Community Affairs: Rural Community Development Banking Resource Directory

Community Affairs:
Rural Community Development Banking Resource Directory