Chicago, IL  Director Donna J. Gambrell of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) traveled to Chicago to join U.S. Senator Dick Durbin and U.S Representative Danny Davis to announce awards totaling $142,302,667 for 155 Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) serving economically distressed communities across the nation. The organizations awarded are headquartered in 40 states and the District of Columbia.

The awards are being made through the fiscal year 2011 round of the CDFI Fund's cornerstone program, the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program), and represent the largest single round of monetary awards in the CDFI Fund's history. The awards will help these specialized, community-based financial institutions spur local economic growth and recovery, as well as expand access to affordable financial products and services.

"Every community deserves to have access to basic financial products and services, from bank accounts to affordable home and car loans. The CDFI Program provides access to rural and urban communities across the country by investing in local financial institutions that serve these communities," said Deputy Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin. "Today's awards will provide much-needed capital to help community-based financial institutions offer products and services that would otherwise be out of reach for thousands of low-income Americans."

"Given the many economic hardships currently experienced in many low-income communities across the country, I am pleased to see this historic investment and commitments from the Obama administration in leading new investments in small business, especially in Chicago to rebuild our communities," said Representative Danny Davis.

Treasury held the national award announcement at the Fulton-Carroll Center a 410,000-square foot small business incubator on the Near West side of Chicago to highlight how CDFIs can play a critical role supporting local entrepeneurs and small businesses spur job creation and economic growth in economically distressed communities across the country. This small business incubator houses almost 120 tenants and was recognized internationally with the "Incubator of the Year" award in 2006 by the National Business Incubation Association.

The awardees were selected after a competitive review of 393 applications received by the CDFI Fund from organizations across the nation that requested, in total, nearly $466 million in funding under the FY 2011 round of the CDFI Program.

• 2011 CDFI Program Award Booklet
• 2011 CDFI Program Award List
• 2011 CDFI Program Awardee Profiles
• 2011 CDFI Program Highlights
   

About the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program)
Through the CDFI Program, the CDFI Fund invests in and builds the capacity of existing private, for-profit and non-profit community-based lending organizations known as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that serve rural and urban low-income people and communities across the nation that lack adequate access to affordable financial products and services. The CDFI Fund receives applications on an annual basis and awards funds through a competitive process. With the announcement of these awards, the CDFI Fund has awarded just over $1 billion through the CDFI Program since the CDFI Fund was created in 1994.

For more information on the CDFI Program, please visit www.cdfifund.gov.