Remarks by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen at the Community Development Advisory Board Meeting Celebrating the CDFI Fund’s 30th Anniversary

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you. I am very glad to join you to mark the 30th anniversary of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund with this Community Development Advisory Board meeting.  

Let me start by thanking my fellow government representatives for serving alongside me and the private citizens appointed to serve with us—both those who have been serving and the four new members joining us today. Your expertise and commitment are critical to strengthening the CDFI Fund’s work.  

Three decades ago, President Clinton worked to establish the CDFI Fund with bipartisan support from Congress to advance the goal of promoting economic revitalization and community development. Since then, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $7 billion to CDFIs and mission-driven lenders and $76 billion in tax credits to community development entities. By one analysis, every dollar the CDFI Fund invests catalyzes at least eight more dollars in private-sector investment, magnifying its impact. And the CDFI Fund also provides much-needed technical assistance, like guidance for CDFIs on how to reach populations that have been underserved. 

Put simply, the CDFI Fund has done important work for decades. But I’d like to focus today on how central it has been to our Administration’s work to drive a historic economic recovery and to move forward our medium- and long-term economic agenda. 

We came into office in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of Americans were dying each day. Thousands were filing jobless claims each week. Households across the country faced the threat of eviction or foreclosure. CDFIs were a crucial part of our response. We invested $9 billion under the Emergency Capital Investment Program and $3 billion under the Rapid Response Program and Equitable Recovery Program. These funds equipped CDFIs to support American households and businesses at a crucial moment, helping tackle the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, from closures of health care facilities to increased housing instability.  

As we recovered, the CDFI Fund continued to be key to our Administration’s economic agenda. We’re focused on investing in people and places that have been underserved—both to advance fairness and because supporting those who have been underserved helps strengthen our economy as a whole. We structured the Emergency Capital Investment Program to incentivize “deep impact lending” to reach underserved communities facing the greatest barriers.  And the CDFI Fund is also at the heart of our agenda to increase the supply of housing and lower housing costs. In June, I announced that the CDFI Fund will provide an additional $100 million over the next three years to increase the supply of affordable housing. The CDFI Fund is also providing funding and guidance to CDFIs to counter the threat of cyber-attacks. These challenges won’t be solved overnight. But under this Administration, CDFI Fund support is helping fuel significant progress. 

As we look back over the last 30 years, it is remarkable how significant a role the CDFI Fund has played in fueling economic development in countless communities across the United States. And I’m proud of what we’ve done to support and expand its work under this Administration. 

Thank you again to all those who have contributed to this progress. I’m glad that we can mark this occasion here at Treasury, and I look forward to the work ahead. 

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