Sept. 14, 2015 — Initiative Capital, the N.C. Community Development Initiative’s lending and investment arm, has received a $1 million grant from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund).
The grant was among $182.3 million in Financial Assistance and Technical Assistance awards made to 152 organizations through the CDFI Program, which invests in and builds the capacity of community credit unions, banks, loan funds and other financial institutions serving rural and urban communities across the nation that lack adequate access to affordable financial products and services.
Initiative Capital, a federally certified CDFI, focuses its lending and investments exclusively on businesses and communities that have been hardest hit and underserved in order to catalyze economic growth and transformation. It provides gap funding, permanent financing and flexible credit for community assets, such as affordable housing, community facilities and commercial spaces. Initiative Capital will use its CDFI award to expand its affordable housing and asset preservation lending across the state.
“Capital is critical for revitalizing distressed communities, supporting the growth of small businesses and entrepreneurial ventures and providing safe, affordable housing,” said Tara Kenchen, CEO of the Initiative and Initiative Capital. “This award will allow us to strategically invest capital in ways that help transform areas left behind in the economic recovery.”
The latest CDFI Program awards mark 20 years of investments to build a strong network of CDFIs across the country, said CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan.
“Through the first 20 rounds of this program, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $1.5 billion, helping build a nationwide network of more than 950 CDFIs located in every state, all focused on economically empowering the communities they serve,” Donovan said.
“These important community partners are not only on the frontlines of economically distressed communities providing needed capital and credit, they are building a more inclusive economy which benefits the nation as a whole,” she said.
About the CDFI Fund
Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $2 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations and financial institutions through the CDFI Program, the NACA Program, the Bank Enterprise Award Program, the Capital Magnet Fund and the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $43.5 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and $525 million has been guaranteed in bonds through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, visit www.cdfifund.gov.
About Initiative Capital
Initiative Capital, the lending and investment subsidiary of the N.C. Community Development Initiative, is a federally certified community development financial institution that makes financial investments in community organizations and businesses to spark economic growth and job creation. Learn more at www.ncinitiative.org.