CDFI Fund Releases FY 2003 NOFA

February 4th, 2003
CDFI Coalition E-news

**CDFI Fund Releases FY 2003 NOFAs**
=====================================
The CDFI Fund released its FY 2003 Notice Of Funds Availability (NOFA)
for its Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program, a new Native American CDFI
Development (NACD) Program, and its CDFI Program, which has been
re-arranged into the following components: a Financial Assistance (FA)
component and a Technical Assistance (TA—including Native American TA)
component.

In addition, the CDFI Fund published two revised interim rules with
requests for comments, one for its CDFI Program and the other for its
BEA Program. Both the NOFAs and the Interim Rules are available on the
CDFI Coalition Website, www.cdfi.org/enews.asp

The FY 2003 NOFAs include significant changes to both the BEA and CDFI
Programs. Institutions interested in applying for funds should carefully
review the details published in the relevant NOFA.

In FY 2003, $30 million will be available in the FA component. The
deadline listed in the NOFA is March 10, 2003 but the CDFI Coalition has
learned that this deadline is likely to be extended a week or two.

Upon learning of the Fund’s intention to set a very short deadline, the
Coalition of Community Development Financial Institutions and our member
organizations wrote and phoned CDFI Fund officials to express our strong
concerns.* The Coalition pointed out that with all the changes included
in the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA), CDFIs would be hard pressed
to prepare quality applications incorporating the new requirements in
just a few weeks time.*

The CDFI Fund responded to the concerns of the industry with a promise
to extend the deadline a week or two. Once the new deadline has been
determined, the CDFI Coalition will post it on its website. Please check
back.

Applications for the TA component will be considered and grants made on
a rolling basis, beginning from February 4, 2003 until May 31, 2004. In
FY 2003, $13 million is available (including a $3 million set aside for
Native American CDFI Technical Assistance), and approximately $4.5
million is available for FY 2004 awards.

For the new Native American CDFI Development Program (replaces the
Native American CDFI Technical Assistance--NACTA Program), $3 million
will be available for FY 2003 and $1.5 million will be available in FY
2004. Awards will be made on a rolling basis with the same deadlines as
the TA program.

The BEA Program NOFA combines two years of funding. In FY 2003, $17
million will be available for awards. In FY 2004, only $8 million will
be available. The application deadlines are July 17, 2003 for those
institutions choosing a six month assessment period and February 25,
2004 for those following a twelve month assessment period.

Application materials will be posted on the CDFI Fund website
www.cdfifund.gov very shortly.* An announcement about a videoconference
briefing for CDFIs interested in applying for funds will also be posted
shortly on the CDFI Fund website.

The Coalition of Community Development Financial Institutions is the
lead national organization in the United States promoting the work of
community development financial institutions. The CDFI Coalition
coordinates industry wide initiatives and conducts a variety of public
education programs to introduce key audiences to the valuable work
performed daily by CDFIs. To join the CDFI Coalition Action Network go
to www.capwiz.com/cdfi/mlm/

Please send your comments and suggestions about this newsletter to
info@cdfi.org
*



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