This is the second and last installment of the funding set aside as part of the “Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act” to be deployed by the CDFI Fund to expand the capacity of CDFIs to help revitalize communities most impacted. As one of the CDFI Fund's most flexible programs for how awards are used, the CDFI ERP allows recipients to:
- "Provide funding to CDFIs to expand lending, grant making, and investment activities in low- or moderate-income communities and to borrowers, including minorities, which have significant unmet capital and financial services needs and have experienced disproportionate economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic; and
- Enable CDFIs to build organizational capacity and acquire technology, staff, and other tools necessary to accomplish the activities under a CDFI ERP Award"
203 CDFI-certified credit unions and cooperativas received $590.3 million
Inclusiv was instrumental in shaping the program's delivery, advocating for terms and conditions favorable to CDCUs and the low-income communities and communities of color they serve – the very communities it is intended to impact.
Community development credit unions became financial first responders during the pandemic, providing access to vital financial services, lending and critical information.
"ERP will be transformative for CDFI credit unions and the communities they serve. This flexible funding will not only increase access to high-quality, affordable financial services and loans in low-income communities and communities of color but will also help CDFI credit unions invest in the systems, technology and staff needed to ensure sustainable growth," said Cathie Mahon, Inclusiv’s President and CEO. "Inclusiv applauds the CDFI Fund’s thoughtful work to design ERP and deploy the funds in historically under-invested communities."
Unprecedented and historic funding for cooperativas in Puerto Rico serving 1.1 million consumers on the island.
Inclusiv is especially pleased to announce that 69 members in Puerto Rico received an unprecedented grant of $225.9 million, the largest external capital injection in the history of the country's cooperativas.
This again, is the result of tireless efforts from the Inclusiv Puerto Network and partners Asociación de Ejecutivos de Cooperativas de Puerto Rico (ASEC) and Corporación Pública para la Supervisión y Seguro de Cooperativas (COSSEC).
"The work we started after Hurricane Maria has paid off. Puerto Rico now has the fifth largest concentration of CDFIs in the nation and the second largest number of regulated CDFIs," said Pablo DeFilippi, EVP, Inclusiv Network. "This historic award will exponentially increase the financial cooperativas’ capacity to continue the rebuilding of communities impacted by climate change, disinvestment, and neglected by the financial mainstream."
