WASHINGTON–Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund has opened the fiscal year (FY) 2022 funding round for the new CDFI Equitable Recovery Program (CDFI ERP).
The program will provide approximately $1.73 billion in awards, which was included in the Consolidated Appropriations Act to Certified Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) to respond to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Treasury, through CDFI ERP, the CDFI Fund will provide Awards to Certified CDFIs to:
- Expand lending, grant making and investment activities in low- or moderate-Income communities and to borrowers, including minorities, that have significant unmet capital or financial services needs and were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic
- Enable CDFIs to build organizational capacity and acquire technology, staff, and other tools necessary to accomplish the activities under a CDFI ERP Award
All Awards provided through this NOFA are subject to funding availability, Treasury said. The CDFI ERP Award may be expended for eligible activities such as financial products, financial services, development services and/or grants, and certain operational support activities as defined by the NOFA.
All applications must be submitted to the CDFI Fund by August 23. Review the NOFA for additional program details.
Eligibility
Organizations eligible to apply for a CDFI ERP Award will be limited to CDFIs that:
- Have been certified, by the CDFI Fund, as CDFIs as of the date the NOFA is published in the Federal Register—the NOFA serves as an official notice that organizations can formally submit an application for a CDFI ERP Award
- Have a track record of serving CDFI ERP-Eligible Geographies (which will be detailed in the NOFA) and can provide data demonstrating such track record as part of the application process
- Meet certain financial management criteria, including two years of audited financial statements, and are in compliance with all outstanding CDFI Fund awards, allocations, or bond requirements and meet benchmarks for programmatic and financial safety and soundness.
Application Webinars
The CDFI Fund is conducting two live webinars to provide guidance to applicants about the FY 2022 CDFI ERP application and to answer applicant questions. Treasury is directing CDFI credit unions to the CDFI ERP webpage for the dates, times, and access information for each webinar.
All applicants must be registered and have active accounts in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and the CDFI Fund’s Awards Management Information System (AMIS) to apply for funding.