Award Will Advance Equitable Development in Underserved Communities Throughout the Midwest & MidAtlantic Regions
Cinnaire has announced the organization has received a $4.9 million Equitable Recovery Program (ERP) grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. The competitive grant program was designed to provide funding to CDFIs to expand lending, grant making, and investment activities in low- or moderate-income communities which have significant unmet capital and financial service needs and have experienced disproportionate economic impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The CDFI Fund plays a key role in providing financing to advance impactful projects for vulnerable communities across the country,” said Katey Forth, Cinnaire Executive Vice President, Public Funding. “Cinnaire will use this award to invest in affordable housing and equitable communities, alleviating burdens for families struggling to make ends meet, especially those living in marginalized and underserved communities.”
Cinnaire will use the $4.9 million ERP award to deliver financing options crucial to advancing affordable housing communities across its footprint, including urban and rural communities throughout the Midwest and Midatlantic regions. The investments will be made in communities struggling to recover from the pandemic.
“Today’s awards represent a historic opportunity to accelerate efforts in America’s distressed and underserved communities to overcome the persistent economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said CDFI Fund Director Jodie Harris. “The more than $1.73 billion in CDFI ERP funding that is being awarded to CDFIs will be utilized to implement initiatives that, among other things, increase availability of financing and capital for small businesses, promote affordable housing, and improve accessibility to loans that help families make ends meet – all of which were compromised by the pandemic, and are vital to community resilience, sustainability, and economic prosperity.”
The CDFI award recipients include loan funds, credit unions, banking entities, and venture capital firms. To learn more about the CDFI Fund ERP program, please click here.Â
