What is CDFI?
Community Development Financial Institutions, or CDFIs, are mission-driven lenders that help capital reach people, businesses, and communities that traditional financial institutions may not adequately serve. They can be community banks, credit unions, nonprofit loan funds or venture capital funds.
You may never see “CDFI” on the front door. You’re more likely to experience what they make possible.
Who do They Serve — and What do They Finance?
- Small businesses and entrepreneurs
- Affordable housing and first-time homebuyers
- Health clinics and child-care centers
- Community facilities
- Consumers and families
- Local development projects
Federal CDFI funding helps these institutions expand lending and investment in their communities. It can also help attract additional private and philanthropic capital, multiplying the impact of the original federal dollars.
What Happens When that capital doesn’t move?
- A small business may wait longer for financing.
- A housing or community project may be delayed.
- An entrepreneur may have fewer affordable options.
- A CDFI may have less capital available to lend.
- Private or philanthropic investment tied to that funding may also be delayed.
Why this matters now
Congress approved hundreds of millions of dollars for CDFI programs. Freedom Economy is taking legal action to help ensure those resources reach the institutions and communities they were intended to support.
CDFIs help turn capital into businesses, homes, jobs and community infrastructure. When that capital is disrupted, the effects reach far beyond the financial institutions themselves.