FUND’s DEI Journey
In 2018, FUND CI released its landmark study Perception vs. Reality: Women and Change in the CDFI Industry. When speaking to women as part of this study, we learned a person’s experience in the industry went beyond gender identification and was the intersection of many things including race/ethnicity and/or sexual orientation. That led us to […]
Why do CDFIs choose people or place-based strategies?
What is FUND CI thinking about this fall? People and Place-based strategies. Over the summer, FUND CI conducted an online survey of CDFIs and found that CDFIs are using the following strategies: 23% place based 22% people based 55% both place and people based The survey requested information on the reasons that CDFIs employed people […]
Thinking about people and place-based lending
What is FUND CI thinking about this fall? People and Place-based strategies. In the CDFI industry, many of the recent relief programs, like the Rapid Response Program, were a mix of people and place-based strategies. However, one program in particular, the Emergency Capital Investment Program (ECIP), strongly focused on people-based interventions. Since we know that […]
CDFI Loan Funds Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Two Spotlights
CDFI Loan Funds have shown incredible expediency and responsiveness in reacting to the pandemic. They placed a priority on speed of response in terms of adopting policies to help current borrowers, developing and launching new emergency lending products, and leveraging capital from other public and private sources to maximize impact. Many of these activities were […]
CDFI Banks and PPP Lending: Two Spotlights
CDFI banks have been integral to distributing PPP lending to underserved communities. In order to do this, bank staff had to be nimble and take on new tasks with heavy workloads. CDFI banks were able to deliver a high volume of loans with a notable number of smaller loans. Below we offer two spotlights on […]
Small Dollar Credit Builder Loans: Adding Insight to Build Impact
FUND CI continues its deeper dive in the its recent report Bending Toward Justice: Credit Scores as a Measure of CDFI Impact with Talia Kahn-Kravis, the Credit Builder Alliance’s Manager of Innovations and Business Development. CBA is an innovative national nonprofit network dedicated to building the capacity of a diverse and growing network of hundreds […]
Using Research to Build the CDFI Industry
Utilizing industry expertise has significantly enhanced FUND CI’s research. FUND CI’s recently released report Bending Toward Justice: Credit Scores as a Measure of CDFI Impact details research conducted in conjunction with the Credit Builders Alliance (CBA), and is the most recent example of the value of collaborations. To expand on the report, FUND CI Board […]
CDFIs Value In-Person Communication
Last week, FUND Community Institute released its report, Bending Toward Justice: Credit Scores as a Measure of CDFI Impact. While the central finding is that small dollar credit building loans offered by CDFIs have a positive effect on borrower’s credit scores, the project team also investigated various other aspects of how CDFIs help borrowers to […]
Gender at Native CDFIs
FUND Community Institute expanded its recent research on women in CDFIs by exploring women’s general DEI experiences in Native CDFIs (NCDFIs) and as they relate to gender. Although the findings suggest that the matrilineal culture present in many Native communities helps bolster the role of women in NCDFIs, interviewees more emphatically described multiple challenges related […]
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Native CDFIs
As part of its ongoing research into DEI in CDFIs, FUND Community Institute focused its research on women in Native CDFIs (NCDFIs) to learn how they are experiencing diversity, equity and inclusion in their organizations. Interviews with four women working in Native CDFIs show that they tend to view their experiences at NCDFIs positively; all […]