Join us August 7-15 for a series of courses presented by the CDFA Training Institute. CDFA Virtual Summer School will offer five different training courses, all held online. Learn from our expert practitioners and experience CDFA's most interactive educational event of the year – all from the comfort of your home or office! All CDFA Virtual Summer School courses qualify for the CDFA Training Institute's Development Finance Certified Professional (DFCP) Program.

Everytable, a mission-driven food company that fights for food justice by making fresh, nutritious food accessible and affordable for all, announced that it has successfully raised $25 million in the initial closing of its Series C-2 preferred stock financing. The round was led by the Dohmen Company Foundation (DCF) through the Dohmen Impact Investment Fund and focused on investing in companies capable of preventing and reversing diet-related diseases.

CDFA is building a national coalition to apply for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund's Clean Communities Investment Accelerator and hosted an informational briefing on how it's building that coalition. Join today!

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced the opening of the financial assistance application process for eligible farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs prior to January 2021. Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) directs USDA to provide this assistance.

Walden Mutual Bank opened for business in October 2022, becoming the first mutual bank to open its doors since 1973. Specializing in local food and agriculture lending across New England and New York, it already has more than a thousand depositors and $44 million in assets, including loans to farmers, organic food production facilities, and even a project to build a solar array over a sheep grazing meadow to add some income for the farmer.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that Indiana will receive $15 million in federal funds for the expansion of projects for independent meat producers. The grant money will be used to capitalize a revolving loan fund to assist small and very small Indiana meat packers and processors with access to affordable capital for meat expansion projects.

Owners of agricultural assets that lease or sell to beginning farmers in Minnesota may be eligible for the Beginning Farmer Tax Credit, which is open for applications through the Minnesota Department of Agriculture's (MDA) Rural Finance Authority (RFA). Qualifying applicants can include individuals, trusts, or qualified pass-through entities renting or selling land, livestock, facilities, buildings, or machinery used for farming in Minnesota to a beginning farmer.

The Native American Agriculture Fund invests $12 million to stand up the first-ever Other Financing Institution (OFI) within the Farm Credit System. The OFI, Native Agriculture Financial Services, will begin by participating in loans with CDFIs investing in agriculture and rural economic development that support Native farmers and ranchers and then expand into providing credit and financial services for Native agriculture producers and Tribal governments.

CDFA Tribal Finance Webinar Series: Food System Financing on Tribal Lands
July 11, 2023 - 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM Eastern

CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series: Driving Investment in Main Street Redevelopment
July 18, 2023 - 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM Eastern

>>> VIEW THE FOOD SYSTEMS RESOURCE CENTER   
>>> VIEW THE AGRICULTURE RESOURCE CENTER   

Sovereignty and Indigenous definitions of wealth make up the core values on which Natives have built their economic and financial power. Yet, there is still the issue of economic invisibility for Native Peoples, and one of the ways to combat this is through investing in these communities with catalytic capital. This will allow Indigenous Peoples in the United States to hold onto autonomy with their finances and economies, while also emphasizing non-extractive investing. "Catalytic Capital +" is a term created for this report to describe the creative ways in which catalytic capital has brought financial success to Native communities through varied methods and factors. 

This report, published by The Wallace Center, outlines the initial impact of the USDA's Local Food Purchase Assistance Program (LFPA). Through partnerships with state agencies, and territory and tribal governments, this innovative new program is investing more than $864 million into local communities and regional agriculture value chains in just three years. The novel federal procurement program is expected to benefit thousands of farmers and bring an overall economic impact of over $1.8 billion to communities across the United States.

>>> SEARCH FOOD SYSTEMS RESOURCES
>>> SEARCH AGRICULTURE RESOURCES