CDFI Fund Opens FY 2010 Funding Round of BEA Program

March 23, 2010

Washington, DC - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI Fund) today released its Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) for the fiscal year 2010 Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program. This annual funding notice makes available up to $25 million in awards to FDIC-insured banks and thrifts across the nation for increasing CDFI investments and community and economic development lending activities. By providing monetary awards for community investment, the CDFI Fund, through the BEA Program, leverages federal dollars and puts more capital to work in distressed communities throughout the nation.

Since inception, the CDFI Fund has awarded approximately $311 million through the BEA Program. The BEA Program provides formula-based grants to applicants for increasing Qualified Activities from a Baseline Period to a later Assessment Period. Awards are based on activities within three categories:

1. CDFI Related Activities: Equity Investments (such as grants, stock purchases, purchases of partnership interests or limited liability company membership interests), Equity-Like Loans, and CDFI Support Activities (such as loans, Deposits or technical assistance) to certified CDFIs.
2. Distressed Community Financing Activities: loans or investments for Affordable Home Mortgages, Affordable Housing Development, Education, Home Improvement, Small Businesses, and Commercial Real Estate Development in Distressed Communities.
3. Service Activities: Deposit Liabilities, Financial Services (such as check-cashing, money orders, or certified checks), Electronic Transfer Accounts, Individual Development Accounts, or Community Services provided to Low- to Moderate-Income individuals or the institutions serving them.

Note: Definitions for Qualified Activities can be found in the BEA regulations and application materials available at the link found in the Application Materials section below.

BEA Program Overview

The BEA Program was created in 1994 to support FDIC-insured financial institutions around the country that are dedicated to financing and supporting community and economic development activities. The BEA Program complements the community development activities of insured depository institutions (i.e., banks and thrifts) by providing financial incentives to expand investments in CDFIs and to increase lending, investment, and service activities within economically distressed communities.

Deadline

• BEA Program Application: 5:00 PM EDT, May 5, 2010

All applications must be submitted through your "myCDFI Fund" account. For those individuals that do not currently have a myCDFI Fund account, instructions to create one are at: https://www.cdfifund.gov/myCDFI/index.asp

Application Materials

Application materials are available via the CDFI Fund's website at: http://www.cdfifund.gov/what_we_do/programs_id.asp?programID=1

Questions

For more information on the BEA Program, please contact Jodie Harris at (202) 622-4499 or at harrisj@cdfi.treas.gov.

CDFI Fund Background

The CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of community-based, private, for-profit and non-profit financial institutions with a primary mission of community development in economically distressed communities. These institutions – certified by the CDFI Fund as community development financial institutions or CDFIs – are able to respond to gaps in local markets that traditional financial institutions are not adequately serving. CDFIs provide critically needed capital, credit and other financial products in addition to technical assistance to community residents and businesses, service providers, and developers working to meet community needs.

The CDFI Fund's vision is an America in which all people have adequate access to affordable capital, credit and financial services.

For more information about these awards, or about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit the CDFI Fund's website at: http://www.cdfifund.gov.

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