FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Treasury Secretary Robert E. Rubin announced today that the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund awarded 48 community organizations a total of $38.3 million in financial and technical assistance in the second round of CDFI Program. In addition, 55 insured depository institutions will receive $16.9 million in incentive grants in the second round of the Fund’s Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program.

The CDFI Fund was created by President Clinton in 1994 to expand the availability of credit, investment capital, and financial services in distressed urban and rural communities. The CDFI Fund administers two main programs: the CDFI Program and the BEA Program.

The CDFI Program provides capital to specialized, community-based financial institutions known as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that work in underserved market niches.

The BEA Program provides incentives to insured depository institutions to invest in CDFIs and to increase lending and financial services in distressed communities.

"The CDFI Fund is a sound investment for the Federal government," said Secretary Rubin. "The Fund is helping to bring hope and opportunity to communities that have long been left behind. Local community-based institutions that have received CDFI funding are creating jobs and revitalizing America’s neighborhoods. This public-private partnership is essential to ensuring the nation’s financial system works to the benefit of all Americans."

The assistance being provided by the CDFI Program will dramatically strengthen the 48 CDFI awardees, enabling them to provide needed capital and financial services in the distressed communities they serve and to low-income individuals otherwise lacking access to these services. CDFIs provide critical lending and investing for such activities as home purchase and rehabilitation, multi-family and special needs housing, microenterprise development, small business and agriculture enterprises, community facilities such as child care and health care centers; in addition to providing needed financial services such as checking and savings accounts.

The BEA Program works hand-in-hand with the CDFI Program by rewarding insured depository institutions that increase their level of qualified community development activities. The institutions were selected for increasing their direct investment in CDFIs; and for increasing their level of lending, investment, and the provision of financial services within the distressed communities they serve.

BEA awards are disbursed only after the activities proposed by the institutions have actually been completed. Approximately $83 million has been provided in direct community investment by BEA awardees, including $59 million in new lending for multi-family housing. BEA recipients have financed such projects as the construction of new health clinics, a senior care facility, a homeless shelter and a home for people with AIDS. In addition, nearly $66 million in loans, equity investments and grants have been provided directly to CDFIs.

The CDFI Program will help build the capacity of the CDFI awardees to more effectively serve their communities and to expand into new areas. Rather than funding specific projects, the CDFI Fund allows decisions about how to best meet community needs to be made by the local organizations.

The CDFI Program leverages Federal dollars by requiring that each CDFI provide a one-to-one match with funds from non-Federal sources for each dollar of assistance it receives. In addition, CDFIs receiving assistance from the Fund are held to performance standards that help ensure that the Federal investment will result in significant community development impact.

The CDFIs receiving assistance from the Fund include community development banks, multi-bank community development corporations, credit unions, loan funds, venture funds and microenterprise loan funds. The assistance may be made in various forms, including equity investments, grants, loans, and funding for technical assistance.

In order to leverage assistance to even more CDFIs, for the first time, the CDFI Fund is providing assistance to two CDFIs under a new Intermediary Component of the CDFI Program. This assistance will be passed on to smaller, newer, and harder to reach CDFIs.

These intermediary institutions, which meet the same criteria as other CDFIs, will be able to provide financial and specialized technical assistance to approximately 200 community development credit unions and community development loan funds across the country.

Attached is the list of CDFI and BEA awardees.

CDFIs selected for funding under the Core Component of the CDFI Program are:

ACCION El Paso, Inc. El Paso, TX $130,000 grant & $200,000 loan

Alaska Growth Capital BIDCO, Inc. Anchorage, AK $1,000,000 equity investment

Albina Community Bancorp Portland, OR $400,000 equity investment

Alternatives Federal Credit Union Ithaca, NY $750,000 grant & $57,000 technical assistance

Boston Community Capital, Inc. (formerly BCLF, Inc.) Jamaica Plain, MA $435,000 grant & $565 equity investment

Boston Bank of Commerce Boston, MA $750,000 equity investment

Central Appalachian Peoples Federal Credit Union Berea, KY $425,000 grant & $100,000 loan & $50,000 technical assistance

Chowan Credit Union, Inc. Edenton, NC $150,000 grant & $25,000 technical assistance

Coastal Enterprise, Inc. Wiscasset, ME $2,500,000 grant

College Heights Credit Union Fayetteville, NC $175,000 grant & $30,000 technical assistance

Colorado Enterprise Fund Denver, CO $250,000 grant $25,000 technical assistance

Community Investment Corporation Chicago, IL $1,000,000 grant

Community Loan Fund of New Jersey, Inc. Trenton, NJ $800,000 grant & $400,000 loan & $30,000 technical assistance

Community Ventures Corporation Lexington, KY $350,000 grant

Cooperative Business Assistance Corporation Camden, NJ $500,000 grant & $500,000 loan

Enterprise Development Corporation The Plains, OH $125,000 grant

The Enterprise Foundation Columbia, MD $2,500,000 grant

Housing Development Fund of Lower Fairfield County, Inc. Stamford, CT $78,500 grant

Institute for Community Economics, Inc. Springfield, MA $1,125,000 grant & $96,100 technical assistance

Jackson/Hinds Minority Capital Fund, Inc. Jackson, MS $700,000 grant

Leviticus 25:23 Alternative Fund, Inc. Yonkers, NY $250,000 grant

Local Initiative Support Corporation New York, NY $1,000,000 grant

Low Income Housing Fund San Francisco, CA $165,000 technical assistance

Minority Investment Development Corporation Providence, RI $750,000 equity investment

Neighborhood Bancorp San Diego, CA $1,500,000 equity investment

Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, Inc. Chicago, IL $960,000 grant

New Mexico Community Development Loan Fund, Inc. Albuquerque, NM $600,000 grant

Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund, Inc. Minneapolis, MN $185,000 equity investment

Northeast Entrepreneur Fund, Inc. Virginia, MN $250,000 grant & $35,000 technical assistance

PPEP Microbusiness and Housing Development Corporation Tucson, AZ $250,000 grant

Primary Care Development Corporation New York, NY $2,500,000 grant

Renaissance Economic Development Corporation New York, NY $300,000 grant

Rural Community Assistance Corporation Sacramento, CA $600,000 grant & $300,000 technical assistance

Sable Bancshares, Inc. Chicago, IL $1,000,000 equity investment

San Antonio Business Development Fund, Inc. San Antonio, TX $500,000 grant

Southern Dallas Development Corporation, Inc. Dallas, TX $600,000 grant

St. Luke Credit Union Windsor, NC $230,000 grant & $20,000 technical assistance

Tampa Bay Community Reinvestment Corporation Tampa, FL $2,500,000 grant

Tri-County Credit Union Ahoskie, NC $250,000 grant & $25,000 technical assistance

Unified Singers Federal Credit Union Thomasville, GA $250,000 grant & $21,000 technical assistance

Union Settlement Federal Credit Union New York, NY $200,000 grant

United Bank of Philadelphia Philadelphia, PA $500,000 grant

Vermont Community Loan Fund, Inc. Montpelier, VT $465,000 grant & $35,000 technical assistance

Vermont Development Credit Union Burlington, VT $500,000 grant

Washington County Council on Economic Development Washington, PA $250,000 grant

Wendell Phillips Community Development Federal Credit Union Minneapolis, MN $80,000 grant

CDFIs selected for funding under the Intermediary Component of the CDFI Program are:

National Association of Community Development Loan Funds Philadelphia, PA $1,750,000 grant

National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions New York, NY $3,250,000 grant

Insured depository institutions awarded under the BEA Program are:

American State Bank Osceola, AR $15,000

First National Bank of Phillips County Helena, AR $7,500

Simmons First National Bank Pine Bluff, AR $30,000

Bank of America Community Development Bank Walnut Creek, CA $915,333

California Korea Bank Los Angeles, CA $31,250

CenFed Bank Pasadena, CA $62,500

Chevron Credit Bank, N.A. Concord, CA $9,750

Citibank, F.S.B San Francisco, CA $740,156

City National Bank Los Angeles, CA $12,500

Community Bank of the Bay Oakland, CA $1,657,750

Fidelity Federal Bank Los Angeles, CA $250,000

Hanmi Bank Los Angeles, CA $25,000

People's Bank of California Los Angeles, CA $62,500

Republic Bank California, N.A. Beverly Hills, CA $52,618

Norwest Bank Colorado, National Association Denver, CO $165,000

Crestar Bank Washington, DC $464,607

Florida International Bank Miami, FL $13,968

Bank of America, N.T. & S.A. Chicago, IL $18,000

Cole Taylor Bank Wheeling, IL $29,480

Harris Trust and Savings Bank Chicago, IL $5,400

The Northern Trust Company Chicago, IL $425,500

The South Shore Bank of Chicago Chicago, IL $848,320

Republic Bank & Trust Company Louisville, KY $1,100

Central Bank Monroe, LA $37,500

First National Bank of Commerce New Orleans, LA $112,500

BankBoston Boston, MA $128,300

Cambridge Savings Bank Boston, MA $1,732

Wainwright Bank and Trust Company Boston, MA $60,385

Atlantic Bank, N.A. Portland, ME $15,000

Bath Savings Institution Bath, ME $8,250

Kennebunk Savings Bank Kennebunk, ME $12,000

Ocean National Bank Kennebunk, ME $4,500

Peoples Heritage Bank Portland, ME $30,000

Pepperell Trust Company Biddeford, ME $7,500

Central Bank of Kansas City Kansas City, MO $83,808

Trustmark National Bank Jackson, MS $150,000

Branch Banking and Trust Company Winston Salem, NC $330,000

Central Carolina Bank and Trust Company Durham, NC $550,000

First Union National Bank Charlotte, NC $948,750

NationsBank, National Association Charlotte, NC $545,600

Amalgamated Bank of New York New York, NY $16,200

Bankers Trust Company New York, NY $957,000

Citibank, N.A. New York, NY $2,517,024

Community Capital Bank Brooklyn, NY $168,796

European American Bank Uniondale, NY $1,547,285

Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company New York, NY $218,770

Republic National Bank New York, NY $371,550

Roosevelt Savings Bank Garden City, NY $2,250

The Chase Manhattan Bank New York, NY $960,205

Bank of America, FSB Portland, OR $755,349

First Bank of Beverly Hills, Portland, Oregon Portland, OR $19,254

Girard Savings Bank Portland, OR $98,100

Washington Federal Savings Bank Washington, PA $83,250

NationsBank of Texas, NA Dallas, TX $334,400

The San Benito Bank & Trust Company Arroyo, TX $15,000

(a unit of Pacific Southwest Bank)