Eliminating the CDFI Fund Would Harm Black Entrepreneurship
Style Magazine Newswire | 6/9/2017, 1:59 p.m.
Source: Forbes.com
President Trump released his full Fiscal Year 2018 budget, and it calls for a reduction in the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund from $248 million to a paltry $14 million. This essentially amounts to elimination of the crucial fund, which would be a heavy blow to small businesses in distressed rural and urban areas. The administration’s reasoning behind their decision is that the program has been so successful that it is no longer necessary. The first part of that statement is accurate. The last part is dangerous. The CDFI Fund supports hundreds of mission-focused lenders (CDFIs) that provide capital to communities and entrepreneurs who often find traditional sources of capital closed to them. It enables CDFIs to leverage their allocated awards into additional funding, which is then invested back into the community.
