The American Bankers Association and three other trade groups today urged House and Senate appropriations leaders to support $275 million in funding for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund in fiscal year 2019, with at least $35 million allocated for the Bank Enterprise Award Program.
The groups said they were “gravely concerned” that the president’s FY19 budget proposed to eliminate all CDFI Fund programs, especially with the programs oversubscribed. The BEA program has the “strongest demand” among CDFI programs, the groups said, with award requests amounting to 5.7 times the available funding in 2017.
“An analysis by the CDFI Fund found that 90 percent of all BEA monies go to the lowest income census tracts,” the groups said. “Since 1996, the BEA Program has made $447.7 million in awards and helped facilitate billions in new investments that benefit the most difficult-to-serve markets.”
