CDFI Updates
The CDFI Fund is currently in a black out period from October 1, 2022, thru April 2023. You can find more details about the blackout period on the CDFI fund page. Inclusiv has hosted a CDFI Changes webinar series that will assist in keeping you up to date on the progress of our advocacy and member engagement related to the CDFI Fund Certification Standards changes. Below are both the recordings and slide decks you can review pertaining to Inclusiv’s perspective on the upcoming changes.
Advocacy: Inclusiv Comment Letters
Inclusiv has also crafted comment letters in response to the announced CDFI fund comment periods. Below are the current submitted comments along with upcoming comment period deadlines.
Comment Period: CDFI Certification Application (DEADLINE: December 5, 2022)
Inclusiv Comment Letter
Comment Period: CDFI Certification Target Market Verification (DEADLINE: December 19, 2022) Inclusiv Comment Letter
Comment Period: CDFI Certification ACR and Abbreviated TLR (DEADLINE: January 13, 2022) Inclusiv Comment letter (coming soon)
Inclusiv CDFI Certification Changes series
October 26, 2022: “CDFI Certification Changes Overview”
Passcode: $J.6PPeU
Slide deck
November 2, 2022: “Target Market Standards and Verification”
Passcode: P6&2n37J
Slide deck
November 9, 2022: “Accountability”
Passcode: %6fbU2%c
Side deck
November 16, 2022: “Primary Mission & Development Services”
Passcode: 14WH.gAC
Slide deck
December 7, 2022: “Target Market Verification”
Passcode: f!K@1+?8
Slide deck
CDFI Equitable Recovery Program (ERP):
The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) opened the fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding round for the CDFI Equitable Recovery Program (CDFI ERP). The program will provide approximately $1.73 billion in awards to Certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to respond to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Below is Inclusiv's hub of information and resources for members who wish to participate in ERP.
9/19 LETTER TO CDFI FUND DIRECTOR JODIE HARRIS: Extension request for submission of Equitable Recovery Program applications for cooperatives in Puerto Rico
CDFI Equitable Recovery Program Supplemental FAQs Webinar
The CDFI Fund will be conducting a live CDFI ERP Supplemental FAQs webinar to inform Applicants about the FY 2022 CDFI Equitable Recovery Program (CDFI ERP) Application on Thursday, August 25, 2022 at 1 PM ET. This webinar will be held to discuss updates to the Application FAQs, available new materials, and to take any additional questions.
Advance registration is not required to participate in the Supplemental FAQs webinar. Please access the webinar, using this link.
Date: Thursday, August 25, 2022
Time: 1:00 pm to 2:30 pm Eastern Time
Access Details in link.
Inclusiv CDFI ERP Webinar Series
This series of Inclusiv webinars will be an overview of the CDFI Fund’s 2022 Equitable Recovery Program (ERP). We will cover the program details, eligibility requirements and important deadlines.
- ERP with Cooperativas (In Spanish, specifically for our Puerto Rico Network) - Wednesday, July 8 - see below
- Session I (In English) - Thursday, July 14 - see below
- Session II with Q&A Session (In English) - Tuesday, July 19 - see below
Important Deadlines
The CDFI Fund strongly encourages all materials to be submitted at least three days before each corresponding deadline for Grants.gov and AMIS.
- July 26, 2022: Applicants must submit their SF-424 electronically via Grants.gov and create an AMIS account before 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on CDFI Equitable Recovery Program Grants.gov Funding Number: CDFI-2022-ERP
- August 19, 2022: The CDFI Fund will no longer respond to any applicant questions regarding the CDFI ERP application round received after 5:00 p.m. ET on August 19, 2022. Compliance and CDFI Certification support will not be available after this time.
- August 23, 2022: The CDFI Fund will be answering questions about AMIS technical issues with the FY 2022 CDFI ERP application until 5:00 p.m. ET
- September 22, 2022: The complete CDFI ERP funding application must be submitted electronically through AMIS before 11:59 p.m. ET
For more details, visit the CDFI Fund ERP website.
Inclusiv ERP Advocacy
On July 1, Inclusiv submitted a letter to the Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund requesting the extension of the Equitable Recovery Program (ERP) application period by a minimum of 30 days. The application process is highly complex and extensive, requiring five years of transaction-level loan analysis, business plans, and in-depth narratives. The letter highlights the barriers this creates for small MDIs and CDFIs predominantly serving communities of color. This is compounded by capacity constraints triggered by the pandemic and Great Recession.
Inclusiv estimates that credit unions will need to devote at least 200 hours to complete the application which is a huge burden, especially for reporting purposes. An extension of at least 30 days of its original August 24th deadline will ensure that these resources reach the communities they are intended to reach.
Resources
Find eligible ERP tracts with the PolicyMap map tool using the following navigation path: Federal Guidelines, Additional CDFI Fund Programs, Equitable Recovery Areas, Eligible Tracts. (Users must subscribe to use the tool).