Grant to Support Job Creation, Child Care, Affordable Homes & Services
Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Loan Fund (VCLF), a nonprofit, mission-driven lender, has been awarded a $786,840 grant from the US Department of Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. The CDFI Fund awards grants to build capacity of loan funds and other financial institutions serving communities that lack access to financial resources.
The grant will support VCLF’s community-focused loan programs, providing permanent lending capital to Vermont’s small businesses, early education and child care programs, community facilities and developers of affordable housing. VCLF’s lending programs focus on creating opportunities leading to healthy communities and financial stability for all Vermonters.
Over the three year grant period, VCLF plans to lend more than $20 million to create or preserve 1,110 jobs, almost 650 affordable homes, quality early care & education for 1,000 children and essential services for over 100,000 Vermonters.
“The CDFI Fund awards have been incredibly important to our ability to grow and to continue to build Vermont’s businesses and vital services, through the recession and beyond,” said VCLF Executive Director Will Belongia. “The grant not only provides us with significant lending capital, but also allows us to leverage additional funds,” Belongia added.
VCLF is among 152 organizations awarded a total of $182.3 million in the CDFI Fund’s 20th year of grant funding, chosen from a pool of 374 applicants requesting over $439 million. In addition to VCLF, two other Vermont organizations were selected - Community Capital of Vermont in Barre, and Opportunities Credit Union in Winooski.
Commenting on the grantees, CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan said “These important community partners are not only on the frontlines of economically distressed communities providing needed capital and credit, they are building a more inclusive economy which benefits the nation as a whole.”
Belongia noted that the 2015 grant marks VCLF’s twelfth award from the CDFI Fund. “The fact that this highly competitive grant has been awarded to VCLF time after time speaks for the extraordinary efficacy of our lending programs. A vote of confidence of the highest order shows that we’re creating opportunities and healthy communities in Vermont, and moving mountains alongside the CDFI Fund and our other remarkable partners and supporters,” Belongia said.
About the Vermont Community Loan Fund
The Vermont Community Loan Fund’s mission is to create opportunities that lead to healthy communities and financial stability for all Vermonters. Since our inception we’ve lent almost $88 million to local businesses, affordable housing developers and community-based organizations that has created or preserved over 4,800 jobs; built or rehabilitated more than 3,600 affordable homes for Vermont’s families, individuals and seniors;created or preserved quality care for over 3,600 children and their families and supported community organizations providing vital services to hundreds of thousands of Vermonters. For more information about the Loan Fund and its lending programs, visit www.investinvermont.org
About the CDFI Fund
Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $2 billion to CDFIs, community development organizations, and financial institutions throughout the CDFI Program, the NACA Program, the Bank Enterprise Award Program, the Capital Magnet Fund, and the Financial Education and Counseling Pilot Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund has allocated $43.5 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and $525 million has been guaranteed in bonds through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program. To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, visit www.cdfifund.gov
Source: VCLF 9.15.2015