Request for Public Comment: Quarterly Institution Level Report for Recovery Act Awardees

December 8, 2009

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of Treasury, as part of its continuing effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general public and other federal agencies to take this opportunity to comment on proposed and/or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Pub. L. No. 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)). Currently, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (the CDFI Fund), an office within the Department of the Treasury, is soliciting comments concerning the CDFI Fund’s Quarterly Institution Level Report (QILR) for Awardees under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act).

This report should be referenced for the purpose of providing comments on the use of the report to collect information only; it should not be completed and submitted to fulfill Recovery Act reporting requirements. Written comments should be received on or before January 8, 2010 to be assured of consideration.

The Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Program was established by the Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act of 1994 to use federal resources to invest in and build the capacity of CDFIs to serve low income communities and people lacking adequate access to affordable financial products and services. Through the CDFI and Native CDFI Assistance (NACA) Programs, the CDFI Fund provides: (i) Financial Assistance awards to CDFIs and Native CDFIs that have demonstrable community development impact through the deployment of credit, capital, and financial services within their respective Target Markets or by expansion into new Investment Areas, Low-Income Targeted Populations, or Other Targeted Populations; and (ii) Technical Assistance grants to CDFIs and entities proposing to become CDFIs in order to build their capacity to better address the community development and capital access needs of their existing or proposed Target Markets and/or to become certified CDFIs.

The regulations governing the CDFI Program are found at 12 CFR part 1805 and provide guidance on evaluation criteria and other requirements of the CDFI Program. Through the Recovery Act, the CDFI Fund was given authority to make $98 million in CDFI and NACA Program awards. Fifty-nine CDFIs received FA awards through the CDFI Program and ten Native CDFIs received Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards through the NACA Program.

Recovery Act Awardees must comply with both Recovery Act and CDFI Fund reporting requirements. The CDFI Fund requires Recovery Act Awardees to complete a QILR to be submitted to the CDFI Fund no later than ten days after the end of each calendar quarter in order to track each Awardee’s use of Recovery Act funds. The information collected from the questions included in the QILR allows the CDFI Fund to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the CDFI and NACA Programs. In addition, by comparing the data received through the QILR and the Recovery Act federal reporting portal (FederalReporting.gov), the CDFI Fund will be better able to monitor compliance with Recovery Act requirements and to assure the quality of information provided to FederalReporting.gov. Failure to obtain the information collected in the QILR could result in improper monitoring of the uses of federal funds.

View Related Federal Register Notice

Materials for Public Comment:

• Quarterly Institution Level Report