Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)

MODELS & BEST PRACTICES

*UPDATED*
Alternatives Federal Credit Union (Ithaca, NY)
www.alternatives.org
Alternatives Federal Credit Union was founded by the Alternatives Group, which brought together community groups, cooperatives, and worker-owned enterprises. It has over $51 million in assets. In addition to providing consumer loans, the credit union also operates an individual development account program, a student credit union, and provides business loans.

Bethex Federal Credit Union (Bronx, NY)
www.bethexfcu.org
A small community development credit union based in the Bronx, Bethex has come up with an innovative way of dealing with competition from check cashers: partnering with them to enable customers at their point-of-banking terminals to make free loan payments and deposits into their credit union accounts.

*UPDATED*
Boston Community Capital (Boston, MA)
www.bostoncommunitycapital.org
Founded in 1985, BCC’s community development loan fund has lent out over $200 million, financed 8,500 units of affordable housing, and helped create or maintain over 1,300 jobs that provide a living wage to an underserved population. Through its venture capital fund, BCC also invests directly in companies that provide social as well as economic returns. To date, BCC has over $93 million in assets under management.

*UPDATED*
Chicago Community Loan Fund (Chicago, Illinois)
www.cclfchicago.org
Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) provides low-cost, flexible financing to nonprofit community development organizations for affordable housing, commercial development and nonprofit facility initiatives. Since 1991, CCLF has grown successfully from an initial investment of $200,000 to over $17 million total capital under management. In that time, the fund has closed 134 loans totaling nearly $24.6 million in financing for community development initiatives in more than 50 communities across the metro Chicago region.

*UPDATED*
City First Bank of DC (Washington, DC)
www.cityfirstbank.com
Founded as a community development bank in 1998, the bank has financed more than 1,400 units of affordable housing, helped create or retain over 2,000 jobs, and, from 2004 to 2007, originated a total of more than $150 million in loans overwhelmingly in Washington, D.C.’s poorer neighborhoods.

*UPDATED*
Community First Fund (Lancaster, PA)
www.commfirstfund.org
Founded in 1992, Community First’s service area has expanded from its initial base in Lancaster County to a thirteen-county region in south central Pennsylvania with a population of over 3.5 million. To date, Community First Fund has made over $19 million in loans. Community First has helped preserve 1,300 jobs, develop 120 new affordable housing units, and finance 150,000 square feet of commercial space, primarily in lower income urban neighborhoods.

Community Reinvestment Fund (Minneapolis, MN)
www.crfusa.com
Community Reinvestment Fund works to raise capital on behalf of community-development lenders through the secondary market for loans. Started in 1989, the group has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into low-income and economically disadvantaged communities across the country to help stimulate job creation and economic development, provide affordable housing and construct community facilities.

*UPDATED*
Cooperative Fund of New England (Amherst, MA)
www.cooperativefund.org
Founded in 1975, the Cooperative Fund of New England has grown to have $5.5 million in assets under management. To date, the loan fund has provided $14.7 million to fund 411 loans to cooperative businesses and community-oriented nonprofits around the region, helping to create or retain more than 5,000 jobs and finance the building or improvement of over 2,000 homes.

Florida Community Loan Fund (Orlando, FL)
www.fclf.org
The Florida Community Loan Fund made its first loan in 1996 following the completion of a two year statewide feasibility study which explored the needs for credit and technical assistance among Florida's nonprofit organizations and the availability of political and financial support. Today the Loan Fund boasts a ten-year track record of successful statewide operations and has made more than $ 12 million in loans to help finance 74 community-based projects.

Kentucky Highlands Investment Corp. (London, KY)
www.khic.org
KHIC was founded in 1968 to promote community economic development in southeastern Kentucky. In 1972, it became the country's first community development venture capital fund, a fund which has now grown to $40 million. Over the years KHIC has helped provide $178 million in financing to 220 businesses, thereby helping to create 9,900 jobs.

Lakota Fund (Kyle, SD)
www.lakotafund.org
Founded in 1985, the Lakota Fund has promoted economic revitalization on the Pine Ridge Reservation community. The fund has financed the construction of affordable housing, made micro-enterprise and small business loans supporting the employment of over 500 people and has developed an Individual Development Account matched-savings program.

*UPDATED*
Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund (Lansing and Detroit, MI)
www. interfaithtrust.org
Created in 2004 out of a merger of two community development funds that date back to the 1980s, the Michigan Interfaith Trust Fund offers a variety of loan products, and underwrites projects for affordable housing, economic development, pre-development, and mixed-use development throughout the state of Michigan. To date, the MITF has lent $21.9 million for affordable housing, leveraging an additional $73.7 million, and has helped develop nearly 2,000 housing units. The trust fund has also made 47 economic development loans worth a total of $2.4 million, leveraging an additional $16 million, and has helped create 192 jobs.

Montana Community Development Corporation (Missoula, MT)
www.mtcdc.org
Founded in 1989, Montana CDC serves, despite its “CDC” name, more as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), with a focus on small business lending in five counties of western Montana. It also operates a Native American Fund (which makes micro loans to Native American-led businesses) and a Child Care Loan fund that helps childcare businesses expand facilities and improve programs. Between July 2004 and February 2005 alone, it disbursed over $500,000 in loan financing.

Native American Bank (Denver, CO)
www.nabna.com
Native American Bank was founded in 2001 by a group of Tribal Nations and Alaska Native Corporations. The Bank aims to (1) serve as an engine for Indian economic development, (2) establish a significant Indian presence in the financial marketplace, and (3) project the growing economic power of tribes and Indian businesses onto the national scene.

New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (Concord, NH)
www.nhclf.org
New Hampshire Community Loan Fund was the first statewide community development loan fund in the country. NHCLF is nationally renown for its Manufactured Housing Park Program, a loan product that has enabled mobile home residents to purchase mobile home parks and run them as cooperatives.

Nonprofit Finance Fund (New York, NY)
www.nonprofitfinancefund.org
NFF was established in 1980 and is now one of the nation's leading community development financial institutions (CDFIs), serving nonprofits in the Washington, D.C. area, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City, New Jersey, New England, nationwide through an alliance program, the Philadelphia area, Detroit, and Chicago. NFF ended 2005 with loans outstanding approaching $50 million and has made over $130 million in loans in the past 25 years. In total, NFF has leveraged more than $750 million of capital investment into its nonprofit clients.

*UPDATED*
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund (Minneapolis, MN)
www.ncdf.coop
Northcountry Cooperative Development Fund is a member-owned and governed community development loan fund. In 2004, it also started a separate credit union to finance further expansion. Structured as a co-op, NCDF helps finance producer, worker, consumer, and housing cooperatives across the upper Midwest. To date, it has $12 million in assets.

*UPDATED*
People's Community Partnership Federal Credit Union (Oakland, CA)
www.pcpfcu.org
Chartered in 2000 and open since 2001, People's Community Partnership is a community development credit union that is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or volunteers in the West Oakland flatlands. It is also the first banking institution to operate in West Oakland since the 1960s, providing area residents with an alternative to expensive check-cashing services and payday loans. Members can open an account with as little as a $25 and a one-time $5 fee. It has grown to have more than 2500 members with assets of more than $4.5 million.

*UPDATED*
PeopleFund (Austin, TX)
www.peoplefund.org
Since its founding in 1994, PeopleFund (formerly Austin CDC) has invested in the community over $16 million and has leveraged $8.6 million in bank partnership financing. The fund’s loans have helped create over 1,600 jobs for low-income residents and approximately 805 childcare slots. Over 75 percent of its business loans are given to minority-owned businesses.

*UPDATED*
The Reinvestment Fund (Philadelphia, PA)
www.trfund.com
Founded in 1985, TRF is an umbrella group that oversees a host of community development loan and venture funds that invest in the Mid-Atlantic region. As of 2007, TRF has managed over $700 million in capital. To date, TRF financing has helped create or preserve over 16,000 housing units, 420 businesses, 22,000 charter school slots, 35,000 jobs and 1.53 million MWh of clean energy, or enough power to run 150,000 homes for a year.

Self-Help (Durham, NC)
www.self-help.org
Founded in 1980, Self-Help is a community development lender that has provided over $4.5 billion in financing to more than 50,000 homebuyers, small businesses, and nonprofits nationwide. Self-Help has also been a leading in efforts to limit predatory lending policies of check cashing outlets and other “fringe” banking services.

*UPDATED*
ShoreBank (Chicago)
www.sbk.com
ShoreBank is the nation’s largest community development bank, with over $2.2 billion in total assets. Founded in Chicago, it now also operates in Cleveland, Detroit, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the Pacific Northwest. In 2006 alone, within its targeted areas, ShoreBank lent out $161 million for affordable housing, $129 million for and small businesses, and $71 million for faith-based and non-profit organizations.

*UPDATED*
SJF Ventures (Durham, NC)
www.sjfund.com
SJF Ventures (originally known as the “Sustainable Job Fund”) is a community development venture capital fund. To date, SJF has invested more than $10.3 million in 18 companies, helping to retain 1000 jobs and create an additional 1200 jobs. Investment in a company is contingent on the company signing a covenant, with mutually agreed upon goals regarding job creation, facility location, and environmental impact.

*UPDATED*
Southern Appalachian Fund (London, KY)
www. southappfund.com
The Southern Appalachian Fund (SAF) is a $12.5 million community development venture capital fund formed to provide equity capital and operational assistance to qualifying businesses in southern Appalachia. SAF focuses specifically on companies in Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Appalachian counties of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi and makes investments in qualifying firms in amounts that range from $200,000 to $600,000. Through its investments, the fund aims to promote economic development, encourage wealth creation and increase job opportunities for individuals living in low-income geographic areas.