The Council of Development Finance Agencies has partnered with Frost Brown Todd and its affiliate FBT Project Finance Advisors on the new CDFA Intro Infrastructure Finance WebCourse and the CDFA Finance Toolbox video series. This collaboration will focus on financial challenges and opportunities facing communities working to develop or upgrade energy, water, broadband, disaster recovery, transportation, and other services, and provide expert analyses to inform the development finance industry.

The Ohio Development Services Agency has created a $10 million revolving loan fund to help women- and minority-owned businesses recover from the coronavirus fallout, administered statewide by microlender Economic and Community Development Institute.

Wells Fargo unveiled details of an approximately $400M effort to help small businesses impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic remain open, retain employees and rebuild. The Open for Business Fund's initial grants will allocate $28M to CDFIs aimed at empowering Black and African American-owned small businesses, which are closing at nearly twice the rate of the industry, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

Through the Coronavirus Aid, Recovery and Economic Stability (CARES) Act, the U.S. Department of Commerce's Economic Development Administration is awarding Recovery Assistance grants to capitalize and administer Revolving Loan Funds that will provide critical gap financing to small businesses and entrepreneurs in Georgia that have been adversely affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

In order to better identify and align itself with its mission and impact across the region, what was once the Mahoning Valley Economic Development Corp. is now Valley Economic Development Partners. Additionally, last week, it was announced that Valley Partners would receive a $5M EDA grant drawn from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act which will be used to create a new fund – the Valley Partners Revolving Loan Fund.

DoorDash's loan program aims to help improve Black-owned businesses' access to capital by matching funds from Kiva, a nonprofit lending company. DoorDash has established a $150,000 revolving loan fund to support the program, the company said.

A handful of states are preparing to spend millions of dollars to address flooding, as extreme rain and sea level rise threaten communities along rivers and coastlines. On July 1, Virginia's new Community Flood Preparedness Fund went into effect. It will set aside an estimated $45 million a year for flood mitigation projects.

The government is offering to lend up to $600 billion to help small and midsize businesses weather the coronavirus-induced recession, but so far interest has been sparse. Under the Main Street Lending Program, commercial banks lend to companies and then sell all but a small portion of each loan to the Federal Reserve. The Treasury Department stands ready to cover the Fed's losses if companies fail to repay. More than two months after the program was announced, however, some bankers say they are still trying to decide whether to take part.

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV) and U.S. Rep. John Katko (R-NY) unveiled bipartisan, bicameral legislation that aims to promote lending to businesses and create jobs by improving access to revolving federal loan funds. Specifically, the Reinvigorating Lending for the Future (RLF) Act of 2020 would reduce barriers to lending for recipients of capitalization grants through the U.S. EDA Revolving Loan Fund Program, according to a bill summary provided by the senator's office.

Comerica Bank will commit $1 million to a new initiative focused on increasing access to capital for black-owned businesses. The small business program is set to pilot in Comerica's five primary markets of Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan, and Texas, and it will become available in all 50 states in 2021.

CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series: Financing Small Business Recovery After COVID-19
Tuesday, July 21, 2020 - 1:00 PM Eastern

CDFA Food Systems Finance Webinar Series: Neighborhood Revitalization Through Food Systems Finance
Thursday, July 30, 2020 - 2:00 PM Eastern

>>> VIEW THE RLF RESOURCE CENTER   

Cultivating Development explores the mutually beneficial relationship between food-based amenities—such as working farms, community gardens, food halls, restaurants, and grocery stores—and real estate. Developers, owners, property managers, designers, investors, and others involved in real estate decision making can learn from the research, case studies, and food and development practitioner insights described in this report, thereby allowing them to create places that both support and leverage investments in food.

During this webinar, experts from multiple USDA offices will dive into how the department has tailored its many financing programs to assist with the recovery while noting what we can learn from the pandemic to better prepare rural America for tomorrow.

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