Community Development Financial Institutions Fund

Program Summary by Budget Activity

Dollars in Thousands

FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021 FY 2020 to FY 2021

Budget Activity Operating Plan Enacted Request $ Change % Change

Community Development Financial 

 Institutions Program $160,000 $165,500 $0 ($165,500) -100.00%

Bank Enterprise Award Program $25,000 $25,000 $0 ($25,000) -100.00%

Native American CDFI Assistance

 Program $16,000 $16,000 $0 ($16,000) -100.00%

Administrative $27,000 $28,500 $14,000 ($14,500) -50.88%

Healthy Food Financing Initiative $22,000 $22,000 $0 ($22,000) -100.00%

Small Dollar Loan Program $0 $5,000 $0 ($5,000) -100.00%

Subtotal, Organization Title $250,000 $262,000 $14,000 ($248,000) -94.66%

User Fees $880 $1,000 $1,200 $200 20.00%

Recovery from Prior Years $364 $500 $500 $0 0.00%

Unobligated Balances Brought Forward $32,542 $194,145 $8,000 ($186,145) -95.88%

Total Program Operating Level $283,786 $457,645 $23,700 ($433,945) -94.82%

Direct FTE 67 76 39 (37) -48.68%

Total Full-time Equivalents (FTE) 67 76 39 (37) -48.68%

FY 2019 Other Resources and Full-time Equivalents (FTE) reflect actuals.

Summary

The FY 2021 Budget requests an appropriation of $14,000,000 for the Community Development 

Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) to oversee the existing portfolio of loans and grants and 

to administer the CDFI Fund’s other programs. The CDFI Fund supports Treasury’s strategic 

goals of Boosting U.S. Economic Growth and Transforming Government-wide Financial 

Stewardship.

The CDFI Bond Guarantee Program (BG Program) was originally authorized in the Small 

Business Jobs Act of 2010 (P.L. 111–240) for a period of four years to provide a source of longterm capital in low-income and underserved communities. The BG Program is implementing 

significant administrative reforms in FY 2020, including new collateral and cash requirements to 

increase taxpayer protections. The CDFI Fund will also pursue additional risk mitigation 

strategies and streamlining of administrative processes such as new liquidity premiums, escrow 

procedures and a designated bonding authority. The Administration requests an extension of the 

BG Program through December 31, 2021, and legislative changes to eliminate the relending 

account, as it is currently not utilized and redundant. The Administration encourages Congress to 

adopt these and other necessary reforms to promote further private sector participation in BG

Program financing and support the growth of a self-sustaining CDFI industry.

The Budget eliminates funding for the CDFI Fund’s five discretionary grant and direct loan 

programs: the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program), the

Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA Program), the Native American CDFI Assistance 

Program (NACA Program), Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), and the Small Dollar 

Loan Program (SDL Program). The CDFI industry has matured, and these institutions should 

have access to private capital needed to build capacity, extend credit, and provide financial 

services to the communities they serve.
Legislative Proposals

The CDFI Fund's BG Program supports CDFI lending and investment activity by providing a

source of long-term capital in low-income and underserved communities. The Budget proposes 

to extend the program's authorization with an annual guarantee level not to exceed $300 million. 

The Administration also requests an extension of the BG Program through December 31, 2021,

and legislative change to eliminate the relending account, as it is currently not utilized and 

redundant.

The Budget also proposes to eliminate new allocations into the Capital Magnet Fund (CMF)

effective in FY 2021. This would eliminate recurrent funding of the CMF through allocations

from the Government-Sponsored Enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Fund Performance Highlights 

FY 2017 FY 2018 FY 2019 FY 2020 FY 2021

Budget Activity Performance Measure Actual Actual Actual Target Target

Community Development 

Financial

Institutions Program

CDFI - Percentage of Loans &

Investments Originated in

Eligible Distressed or

Underserved Communities by

Dollar Amount of Loans

(Annual %)

81.2 73.7 75.6 60 N/A

Administration All Award Cycle Time

(Months) 6.3 5.8 6.4 6.5 6.5

Administration

ALL- Number of Affordable

Housing Units Developed or

Produced

 

27,433 

 

34,083 

 

61,000

 

21,500 

 

21,500 

New Markets Tax Credit Program

NMTC - Percentage of Loans

and Investments That Went

Into Severely Distressed

Communities

77.5 73.6 80 75 N/A

Description of Performance

For the FY 2019 CDFI Program round, the CDFI Fund awarded $132 million in Financial 

Assistance to 261 organizations. The CDFI Fund also awarded $18.2 million in Persistent 

Poverty Counties-Financial Assistance (PPC-FA) to 125 CDFIs specifically to serve Persistent 

Poverty Counties nationwide. In addition, the CDFI Fund awarded $22 million in HFFIFinancial Assistance to 14 CDFIs, as well as $3 million in Disability Funds-Financial Assistance 

awards to 16 CDFIs to help finance projects and services to assist individuals with disabilities. A 

total of 60 organization were also awarded more than $7.2 million in Technical Assistance.

Through the FY 2019 round of the NACA Program, the CDFI Fund awarded $12 million in 

Financial Assistance to 23 organizations in 11 states. In addition, 11 organizations received $1.5 

million in PPC-FA awards. More than $1.9 million in Technical Assistance was also awarded to 

13 organizations.

In FY 2019, the CDFI Fund awarded $3.5 billion in calendar year 2018 New Markets Tax Credit 

Program (NMTC Program) allocation authority to 73 organizations out of a pool of 214 

applicants that requested $14.8 billion in NMTC allocations. Due to the expiration of the 
extension of the allocation authority at the end of calendar year 2020, no target has been set for 

FY 2021.

In FY 2019, the CDFI Program surpassed the 60.0 percent threshold for the percentage of both 

the dollar amount (75.6 percent) and the number of CDFI loans (78.5 percent) made to eligible

distressed communities and underserved populations. No target is set for the FY 2021 measures

because no appropriation is proposed for the CDFI Program for this fiscal year.

The primary HFFI performance measure is the number of healthy food retail stores created and

maintained in low-income areas that have been identified through detailed census tract analysis 

as having limited access to healthy food options. In FY 2019, the number of HFFI Retail outlets

created was 23, thereby exceeding the target of 20 new retail outlets for that year. No target is set 

for the FY 2021 measures because no appropriation is proposed for the HFFI Program for this 

fiscal year.

The All Award Cycle Time metric is an efficiency measure of the average time from the date 

when applications are received to the date of award announcement (calculated in months as an 

average across all programs). The Award Cycle Time in FY 2019 was 6.4 months, surpassing the 

target of seven months. This achievement reflects improved efficiency in making awards, which 

is largely a function of the implementation of the Awards Management Information System 

(AMIS).

CDFI Program, NMTC Program, and CMF award and allocation recipients reported over 61,000

affordable housing units developed or produced as a result of CDFI Fund program awards, 

thereby exceeding the FY 2019 target for affordable housing units. The target reflects projected 

outcomes for program investments from prior-year award recipients’ reported eligible affordable 

housing projects. The FY 2021 target is set to 21,500 units to reflect reduced projected outcomes 

for program investments from prior-year award recipients due to fewer resources for affordable 

housing projects.