The American Bankers Association and four other trade groups today urged House and Senate appropriations leaders to continue bipartisan support for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund with $1 billion in funding for fiscal year 2023, including $100 million for the Bank Enterprise Award Program. The CDFI Fund received $295 million in the previous fiscal year’s budget, a $25 million increase from FY 2021. BEA received $35 million in FY 2022.
“The request for the CDFI Fund represents a necessary increase in funding over levels approved in the FY 2022 appropriations act, and it is justified by the significant demand, over-subscription of the programs and dire need of the nation as we recover from the COVID-19 health and economic crisis,” the associations wrote. “The Biden administration’s budget proposes only $331 million for the CDFI Fund, a modest increase, which does not begin to meet the needs of the underserved communities it supports.”
The $1 billion request represents just 0.34% of total CDFI industry assets and is “critically important” now, the associations wrote, noting that the funding would leverage up to 12 times in private capital that will be channeled to local businesses, nonprofits and others to help vulnerable communities.
