Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) opened the fiscal year (FY) 2020 application period for the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. A total of up to $500 million in guarantee authority is available to Eligible Community Development Financial Institutions (Eligible CDFIs) in FY 2020.

Through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, selected certified CDFIs or their designees issue bonds that are guaranteed by the Secretary of the Treasury and use the bond proceeds to extend credit to CDFIs for community development financing and long-term community investments. Authorized uses of the loans financed through the bond proceeds include a variety of financial activities, such as supporting commercial facilities that promote revitalization, community stability, and job creation/retention; housing that is principally affordable to low-income people; businesses that provide jobs for low-income people or are owned by low-income people; and community or economic development in low-income and underserved rural areas.

Bond Issues are a minimum of $100 million each. Multiple Eligible CDFIs may join a single $100 million Bond Issue provided that each Eligible CDFI participates at a minimum of $10 million.

What's New This Round

The types of community revitalization activities that may be supported through the program were expanded, and the program's collateral requirements have changed.

• Loans funding new construction are now eligible Secondary Loans when collateralized by a Principal Loss Collateral Provision under terms and conditions approved by the CDFI Fund. Previously, the Bond Loan Proceeds could only be used to support the renovation or expansion of existing structures. This change will allow participating Eligible CDFIs to support a much broader scope of construction activities in distressed and underserved areas.

• Charter school loans that have a U.S. Department of Education credit enhancement are now eligible to be pledged as Secondary Loans to the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program.

• The total collateralization for each Bond Loan must now range between 111% and 120%. The collateralization requirements for the CDFI to Financing Entity asset class utilizing pooled tertiary loans, or Bond Loans utilizing the Alternative Financial Structure remain unchanged.

More detailed information about these changes can be found in the FY 2020 Notice of Guarantee Availability (NOGA).

Application Materials

In anticipation of the publication of the NOGA in the Federal Register tomorrow, application materials are available on the CDFI Fund's website at www.cdfifund.gov/bond under the 'How To Apply' section by clicking Step 2: Apply. Application materials must be submitted through the CDFI Fund's Award Management Information System (AMIS).

Please note that descriptions of certain requirements for application documentation were modified to reflect the new requirements for FY 2020.

Deadlines

Please reference the NOGA and application instructions for detailed information regarding the following application deadlines.

• CDFI Certification Applications must be submitted through AMIS by 11:59 p.m. EST on April 6, 2020.
   
• Qualified Issuer Applications must be submitted through AMIS by 11:59 p.m. EST on May 11, 2020.
   
• Guarantee Applications must be submitted through AMIS by 11:59 p.m. EST on May 18, 2020.
   
• The last day the CDFI Fund will accept questions regarding the FY 2020 application period for the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program is May 4, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. EST. All questions must be submitted electronically to the program office at bgp@cdfi.treas.gov.

Qualified Issuer Applications and Guarantee Applications received in FY 2019 that were neither withdrawn nor declined in FY 2019 will be considered under the FY 2020 authority.

Learn About Applying to the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program

Due to recent developments related to the spread of COVID-19, the CDFI Fund will not conduct an in-person, two-day application workshop.  To ensure potential Qualified Issuer and Guarantee applicants have the information needed to consider whether to apply this round, the CDFI Fund will provide two different virtual learning opportunities.

First, the CDFI Fund will conduct two consecutive, two-hour webinars that will highlight the most important information from the presentation used during the customary workshop. Each webinar will last two hours, the last 30 minutes of which will be reserved for Q&A. The CDFI Fund will post the presentation in advance of the webinar, and no registration is needed.

Second, the CDFI Fund will also hold two conference calls to answer any questions that may arise after the webinars.  There will be one conference call for potential Qualified Issuer applicants and another for potential Guarantee applicants.  The details for both are below.

Webinars Details

Viewing these webinars requires the use of WebEx. To download the WebEx Event Manager, see the instructions on the Verizon's WebEx Downloads page.

Conference Calls Details

• Thursday, April 2, 2020 at 1:00-2:30 pm ET Qualified Issuer Applicants
   
• Friday, April 3, 2020 at 1:00-2:30 pm ET Guarantee Applicants
   

The dial-in number and passcodes are the same for both calls. The dial-in number is 1-888-324-0239 and the pass code is 4349543. No prior registration is necessary.

Reasonable Accommodations

Requests for reasonable accommodations under section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for either the webinars or conference calls should be directed to Jay Santiago at 202-653-0300 no later than 48 hours before the conference calls begin.

Questions

Inquiries regarding legal documents related to the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program should be directed to the CDFI Fund's Office of Legal Counsel via email at legal@cdfi.treas.gov.

For more information about the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program, please visit www.cdfifund.gov/bond, or email the CDFI Fund's Help Desk at bgp@cdfi.treas.gov.