The Caren S. Franzini Fellowship was established to cultivate and celebrate exceptional women in development finance, recognizing their leadership and commitment to advancing the industry. Administered by the CDFA Foundation, this six-month fellowship is open to women employed by a CDFA member organization with less than 10 years of experience in the field. Apply by Friday, March 14!

Senate Republican committee chairs delivered a blunt message to Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) last week that they want the Senate to assert itself and not let the White House and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) dictate to them. They said the Senate should stand firm, not just on the budget bill that will be used to move President Trump's agenda, but also on preventing a shutdown and not accepting a year-long government funding resolution that would trigger cuts to defense spending.

Help preserve & protect tax-exempt bonds! Please copy the text from this letter and place it on your organization's letterhead. Modify the RED areas to reflect your particular agency. Fill in and send this letter of support to every member of Congress from your state. Any and all outreach is critical to gaining support in Congress.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) indicated this week that his approach to repealing the Democrats' climate, tax, infrastructure, and health care bill will be neither delicate and precise nor a total overhaul. The Speaker told CNBC in September he wanted to take "a scalpel and not a sledgehammer because there's a few provisions in there that have helped overall."

Tax reform is once again working its way through Congress. With significant pressure from the Trump Administration to address and renew tax provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA), Congress is working to find potential revenue savings to pay for these extensions. Once again, tax-exempt bonds have become a target for potential elimination. Private Activity Bonds (PABs), the primary bond issued for economic development projects, nonprofits, hospitals, and much more, are under serious attack. Like 2017, CDFA and a national coalition of stakeholders are fighting to preserve and protect all bonds. During the CDFA Advocacy Briefing: Preserve & Protect Tax-Exempt Bonds, experts discuss the threat to tax-exempt bonds and how you can get engaged to help preserve and protect this bedrock development finance tool.

Uncertainty can cause concern. But it can also provide opportunities. This is why we're hosting the annual CDFA Federal Policy Conference this April 15-16 in Washington D.C. This is your chance to hear from—and be heard by—the people influencing the development finance industry at the federal level. This isn't just a networking conference with informative breakout sessions, it's a chance to sit at the table and talk with representatives from federal agencies. Save your seat at this important meeting of the minds, and help us turn uncertainty into opportunity. Register today!

The bank accounts of nonprofits administering a $20 billion climate program have been frozen as the program faces significant scrutiny from the Trump administration. The program in question, which is funded by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, provides $20 billion to help finance the deployment of climate-friendly projects. 

Federal agencies are accelerating layoffs and planning for even more cuts as the Trump administration moves quickly to slash the government workforce. The Pentagon and the Department of Housing and Urban Development are gearing up for budget cuts and staff reductions, while layoffs hit employees at the Department of Agriculture, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Join CDFA for our upcoming Bond Finance Week! The Intro Bond Finance Course will take place on March 10-11 followed by the Advanced Bond Finance Course on March 12-13. Register for one or both of these courses to learn from experts how to bring economic growth to your community by utilizing the vast resources of the bond finance industry.