The all-new CDFA Winter Institute debuts February 23-27, 2026! We're excited to bring you five executive format courses that were a hit at the 2025 Summer Institute. Designed for busy professionals, courses are scheduled without overlap, allowing you to complete multiple core classes in a single week while building a practical, integrated understanding of development finance. This is one of your only opportunities in 2026 to complete CDFA's core introductory training courses. Knock out your DFCP requirement courses this February! Learn more about the courses offered and register today!

CDFA is proud to partner with BNY to bring you the CDFA // BNY Development Finance Webcast Series! This 12-part webinar series offers monthly, 1-hour sessions focused on bond finance, providing an in-depth exploration of the bond market, various investment strategies, and the ways bonds can drive impactful economic development. Thanks to our partner, BNY, this series is free to attend, and recordings are available on our website. Register today!

The Rural Data Gateway strengthens U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development partnerships with rural people, entrepreneurs, government officials and Congress by making Rural Development's data more available and easier to access.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development is accepting applications to the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan program. This program provides loan guarantees to commercial lenders for loans to eligible rural businesses.

The Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant programs provide funding for rural projects through local utility organizations. U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development provides zero-interest loans to local utilities which they pass through to local businesses for projects that will create and retain employment in rural areas.

State and local officials have a much clearer view of what's coming in 2026 than they faced a year ago. Election rhetoric has been converted to an avalanche of executive orders and partisan fiscal legislation with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The contours of federal spending cuts and new tax incentives are now "known knowns." And the president's team has made it clear that he wants and expects lower interest rates to goose the economy.

Congress released bill text Monday for a bipartisan, bicameral package of three fiscal year 2026 appropriations bills that would reject nearly $1 billion in proposed cuts to tribal programs sought by the Trump administration, according to congressional negotiators. The package would preserve funding for health care, public safety, education, infrastructure and treaty obligations across Indian Country.

Florida Community Loan Fund (FCLF) was awarded a $75 million New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) allocation from the U.S. Treasury's CDFI Fund, marking its largest allocation to date as one of 142 allocations nationally and only 3 in Florida. This award is part of the CDFI Fund's record $10 billion NMTC allocation authority covering 2024 and 2025 and strengthens FCLF's ability to finance high-impact projects in underserved communities throughout the State of Florida.

Credit unions in the US have welcomed the news that lawmakers are planning to appropriate $324 million for the federal Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund for the coming financial year. This is a welcome reversal for the sector after the fund, which supports credit unions serving low-income and underserved areas through grants, certifications, and access to capital, was axed during last year's federal shutdown, sparking an outcry from the credit union movement.

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