It is important that the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund maintain appropriate staff and funding to continue its mission, the American Bankers Association and five banking associations said today in a joint letter to Trump administration officials.
The Office of Management and Budget has reportedly sent reduction-in-force notices to CDFI Fund staff informing them that their positions are being terminated as the program’s mission is inconsistent with President Trump’s priorities. In a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and OMB Director Russell Vought, the associations said the fund “has long stood as one of the federal government’s most effective, market-based strategies for fostering economic opportunity and expanding homeownership in low- and moderate-income communities.”
“Ensuring the fund has the necessary resources in place will allow it to sustain momentum and fully deliver on the administration’s priorities of revitalizing communities, supporting small businesses and homeownership, and promoting economic growth nationwide,” the groups said. “The administration’s actions to make the fund more effective should not be undercut by the loss of the experienced professionals who are key to implementing them.”
Banks, credit unions and nonbank CDFIs rely on Treasury-issued CDFI certification as the recognized standard for determining whether an entity effectively serves low-income communities, they added. “Maintaining the capacity to administer this certification is vital to ensuring that capital continues to reach rural, small-town, Native and other historically underserved markets.”
A federal judge in San Francisco last week issued a temporary restraining order preventing the Trump administration from firing more than 4,000 federal workers during the government shutdown, including staff at the Treasury Department, which houses the CDFI Fund. The judge recently expanded the order to cover employees not covered by the original decision.
