CDFI Fund Announces Mandatory Recertification Process for Majority of Certified CDFIs in 2013

Earlier this week, the CDFI Fund released mandatory recertification guidelines that will affect the majority of certified CDFIs.  As part of this mandatory recertification process, the CDFI Fund has released a new application and updated their investment area mapping system based on 2006-2010 American Community Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Under the new recertification guidelines:

• CDFIs that were originally or most recently certified prior to February 1, 2010 must apply for recertification no later than 11:59 PM EST on April 1, 2013.

• CDFIs that were originally certified after February 1, 2010 will be required to apply for recertification no later than 60 days after their three-year certification expires.

• CDFIs that apply for recertification by the April 1, 2013 deadline or within 60 days following the expiration of their original three-year certification will be considered certified and in good standing until otherwise notified by the CDFI Fund while their application is being review.  The CDFI Fund anticipates that determinations on applications submitted by the April 1 deadline will be rendered by the end of FY 2013 or earlier for the FY 2013 rounds of the CDFI and NACA Programs.

The new recertification requirements will apply to nearly 900 currently certified CDFIs (as of January 2013, the CDFI Fund has certified 1,006 CDFIs).  According the table of certified CDFIs that the Fund has made available to the public:

• 724 CDFIs will be required to apply for recertification by the April 1, 2013 deadline; and

• An additional 154 CDFIs will be required to apply for recertification before December 31, 2013.

Is your organization among those CDFIS that will need to recertify in 2013?  If so, FUND Consulting encourages all certified CDFIs – particularly those organizations that were originally certified five or more years ago and have not had been required to recertify since that time – to thoroughly review the CDFI Fund’s certification website (www.cdfifund.gov/recert) to see how your organization will be affected by these new requirement.

If your CDFI has questions about the new process, please feel to reach out to FUND Consulting.  Additionally, the CDFI Fund will offer a series of conference calls during the last two weeks of February to discuss the recertification process and provide the opportunity for participants to ask questions.