The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced today a national listening tour to solicit public opinion regarding a new strategic framework for the CDFI Fund. Intended to foster discussion and engagement among local community development leaders and practitioners, the listening tour will be co-hosted by CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan alongside the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City-Denver Branch, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.

"I'm excited for the opportunity to hear from communities about what we're doing well and what the CDFI Fund can do better to support economic growth and access to capital in areas that need it most," said CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan. "The CDFI Fund views this listening tour as a unique opportunity for constructive dialogue to support the growth and success of CDFIs and the communities that they serve."

The CDFI Fund is particularly interested in hearing input on the following:

• Program Effectiveness: Are the CDFI Fund's programs working optimally for communities? What should be improved and how?
• Access: What more can the CDFI Fund do to reach communities that need CDFIs but are either not being served by them or have limited access to CDFI Fund support?
• Innovation and Scaling: How can the CDFI Fund best support CDFIs to continue to innovate? What will it take to scale solutions that are known to work?
• Customer Service: What works well at the CDFI Fund and what needs to be improved?
• Data: How can the CDFI Fund support the use of data to strengthen the industry and increase its impact?
• Blind Spots: What are the issues that should be on the CDFI Fund's radar screen but are not?

The CDFI Fund will use input from the sessions to help develop strategic objectives that will guide the CDFI Fund over the course of the next several years.

Participants at each session will include community development experts, thought leaders, and practitioners, including speakers from the Federal Reserve Banks and local CDFIs.

The listening sessions will be highly interactive. The CDFI Fund specifically encourages the participation of certified CDFIs, community development trade groups and associations, foundations, local and state government entities, and others interested in community economic development.

For those unable to attend the listening sessions in person, the CDFI Fund has created an online survey, available at www.cdfifund.gov/thenextfiveyears. The survey responses will be combined with feedback from the listening session participants and will inform the CDFI Fund's development of strategic objectives.

Listening Tour Dates and Locations

Session 1:  San Francisco, California
Date:         Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Time:         9 a.m. 1 p.m. PDT
Location:   Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
                  101 Market Street
                  San Francisco, CA 94105
Registration Deadline is 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

Session 2:  Denver, Colorado
Date:         Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Time:         9 a.m. 1 p.m. MDT
Location:   Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City - Denver Branch
                  1020 16th Street
                  Denver, CO 80202
Registration Deadline is 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

Session 3:  Chicago, Illinois
Date:         Friday, July 10, 2015
Time:         9 a.m. 1 p.m. CDT
Location:   Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago
                  230 South LaSalle Street
                  Chicago, IL 60604
Registration Deadline is 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, June 30, 2015.

Session 4:  New York, New York
Date:         Friday, July 17, 2015
Time:         9 a.m. 1 p.m. EDT
Location:   Federal Reserve Bank of New York
                  33 Liberty Street
                  New York, NY 10045
Registration Deadline is 5 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, July 7, 2015.

Session 5:  Atlanta, Georgia
Date:         Thursday, August 6, 2015
Time:         9 a.m. 1 p.m. EDT
Location:   Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
                  1000 Peachtree Street SE
                  Atlanta, GA 30309
Registration Deadline is 5 p.m. EDT on Thursday, July 30.

Registration Information

Registration is required and will be honored on a first-come, first-served basis, with a total of 50 seats available per session. All sessions will be held at federally-secured location. Accordingly, a government-issued ID will be required in order to gain entry to the facility.

To register, please visit: http://www.cvent.com/events/cdfi-fund-listening-tour-framework-for-the-future-summer-2015/event-summary-3a6ee0d9c1ac46828f2fe042829cfb35  

For inquiries regarding the Listening Tour, please contact the CDFI Fund HelpDesk via (202) 653-0421 or thenextfiveyears@cdfi.treas.gov with the subject line "Listening Tour."