On February 28, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) announced that DreamSpring will receive $660,000 to sustain and expand our financial products and services. DreamSpring was one of 252 organizations to receive a total of $194.1 million in Financial Assistance awards for the FY 2022 Community Development Financial Institutions Program and Native American CDFI Assistance Program. Read about the CDFI Fund award and see the full list of awardees here.
Outgoing CDFI Fund Director Jodie Harris shared her agency’s commitment to innovative funding solutions through community development finance at the 2022 Opportunity Finance Network Conference in New York. “We are dedicated to finding ways to make sure the CDFI Program can continue to provide impactful awards to CDFIs, even in this high demand environment,” she said.
“The CDFI Fund and this award will create new avenues of opportunity for DreamSpring and the clients we serve,” shared DreamSpring Head of Philanthropy Logan Thompson. “Empowered by this critical operational support, we can seek out leveraged funding, achieve tremendous impact, and continue to transform communities through entrepreneurship.”
We thank the CDFI Fund for their enduring partnership on behalf of economic equity, and we look forward to collaboratively advancing our impact among small business owners and entrepreneurs with accessible, affordable funding solutions!
About the CDFI Fund
Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded nearly $5.7 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations, and financial institutions through: the Bank Enterprise Award Program; the Capital Magnet Fund; the CDFI Rapid Response Program; the Community Development Financial Institutions Program, including the Healthy Food Financing Initiative; the Economic Mobility Corps; the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program; and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $71 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and closed guaranteed bonds for more than $2.1 billion through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program.
To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov.
DreamSpring is a nonprofit community lender dedicated to eliminating systemic wealth inequities and accelerating the economic inclusion and strength of underserved communities. Founded in 1994, the organization provides rapid access to capital and customized wrap-around support to the most vulnerable small business owners in 27 states, focusing on communities including people of color, women, low- to moderate-income earners, people with disabilities, and start-ups. To date, DreamSpring has issued more than 46,350 loans totaling over $538 million to small businesses that support an estimated 80,200 jobs. Learn more at DreamSpring.org.