The Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund today announced nearly $25 million in awards to 119 banks through its Bank Enterprise Awards program, which encourages banks to increase their investments and loans in disadvantaged communities. The BEA program is the only program to which CDFI banks have had regular access in recent years; the American Bankers Association has strongly advocated for increased BEA program funding.
“This round, BEA program award recipients provided $56.9 million in equity investments, loans, certificates of deposit and/or technical assistance to 53 certified CDFIs, which is nearly 2.5 times the amount provided the last round,” said CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan. Of the 119 BEA recipients, 86 have committed to deploying approximately $3.4 million, or 13.6 percent of award dollars, in counties with persistent poverty — exceeding the program’s congressional mandate of 10 percent.
