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On Wednesday, November 20th, the Clinton Foundation hosted the "Economic Inclusion and Growth: The Way Forward" conference at the Clinton Presidential Center in Little Rock, Arkansas to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the CDFI Fund and to honor the leaders of the CDFI industry. At the conference, Former President Bill Clinton recognized CDBA CEO Jeannine Jacokes by discussing her role as the leader of the trade association for CDFI banks, as well as a leader in the loan fund space as the CEO of Partners for the Common Good (PCG). Specifically, he lauded the recent work of CDBA and PCG on the Impact at Scale Initiative, the first industry training program focused on large-scale impact.
The StoryBank Project is a CDBA initiative to capture success stories of our member banks. These stories show how underserved communities benefit directly from mission-based banking and financial services. Our latest video highlights Metro Bank in Louisville, Kentucky. Their client, Kidwell's Auto Beautification, employs dozens of community members, including formerly incarcerated people. Another client, Omni Medical Center, was given a loan by Metro Bank to serve underserved areas of Louisville.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Kathleen L. Kraninger announced the appointment of members to the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB), Community Bank Advisory Council (CBAC), Credit Union Advisory Council (CUAC), and Academic Research Council (ARC). These experts advise Bureau leadership on a broad range of consumer financial issues and emerging market trends. Valerie Quiett, SVP and Chief Legal Officer at M&F Bank in Durham NC, was named to the CBAC.
The New York Fed unveiled a new tool—the Credit Insecurity Index—to provide policymakers and the broader public with a more comprehensive measure of credit access and community credit health. Unlike other metrics that focus on residents without a credit file or score, the Credit Insecurity Index also includes individuals who may have credit files but are limited in their ability to borrow at affordable terms due to blemishes on their records. A new series of reports—Unequal Access to Credit: The Hidden Impact of Credit Constraints—offers in-depth analysis using the new index, including potential policy applications.
On Wednesday, September 18, 2019, the U.S. Treasury Department announced $25.2 million in Bank Enterprise Awards (BEA) by the US Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. 38 banks certified as CDFIs received awards for their efforts to channel $19.4 million of deposits into 18 CDFI credit unions to support their lending in distressed communities. In 2016, the Community Development Bankers Association and Inclusiv began working together to play matchmaker between CDFI banks participating in the BEA Program and CDFI credit unions. While traditional banks and credit unions wage fierce battles over market share, tax status, and a host of regulatory issues, CDFI banks and CDFI credit unions work together to combat poverty.