Pennsylvania is one of seven states profiled by a new study released by Pew Charitable Trusts which discusses what role if any state governments should take to help municipalities with chronic fiscal problems. The study praises Pennsylvania for establishing an early intervention program to help municipalities grappling with fiscal problems that haven't reached the crisis stage yet.

The Pennsylvania Keystone Home Energy Loan Program has been awarded the 2013 CDFA Excellence in Energy Finance Award. Through Keystone HELP, Treasury makes low-interest loans available for high-efficiency furnace or boiler replacements, geothermal heating and cooling units, insulation installations, and door & window replacements to help conserve energy.

The commonwealth's "failure to adequately address key fiscal pressures," including pension reform, prompted Fitch Ratings to downgrade the rating on $10.9B in outstanding general obligation bonds. Pennsylvania's GO bonds were downgraded to AA from AA+. In conjunction with the GO bond rating, Fitch also downgraded five other ratings supported by commonwealth appropriations.

The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has recommended Congress cut the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub's $22M budget for the forthcoming fiscal year and order the Department of Energy to terminate the three-year-old program. The Appropriations subcommittee formed this recommendation "because of poor performance and failure to meet technical milestones."

The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development will sell up to $100 million in credits to generate roughly $85 million in investment dollars for the tech investment entities. Ben Franklin Technology Partners will receive half of the proceeds, the PA Venture Capital Investment Program will receive 45 percent, and 5 percent will go toward Life Sciences Greenhouses.

Wednesday, October 30, 2013 - Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Join the CDFA Pennsylvania Financing Roundtable this October 30, for our annual conference focused on "Financing Industry, Infrastructure & Redevelopment through Creative Approaches". This one-day conference will feature a number of economic development finance experts and leaders from around the state discussing new development finance tools, resources, authorities, and approaches and how these methods can move Pennsylvania's economy forward. Topics to be discussed include energy, infrastructure, redevelopment, loan funds, innovation capital, federal funding and much more.

>>> SEARCH HEADLINES   

The Pennsylvania First Program was established as a comprehensive funding tool to facilitate increased investment and job creation in the Commonwealth and to enable the Commonwealth to compete more effectively in the global economy. Through this program grants, loans, and loan guarantees are made available to purchase equipment; land; buildings; right-of-ways; working capital; site preparation; and more.

This policy focus report explores the challenges of regenerating America's legacy cities - older industrial cities that have experienced sustained job and population loss over the past few decades. It identifies the powerful obstacles that stand in the way of fundamental change in the dynamics of these cities, and suggests directions by which cities can overcome those obstacles and embark on the path of regeneration.

In an effort to help states participating in the U.S. Department of the Treasury's SSBCI program, CDFA developed a number of technical assistance service options. CDFA's SSBCI Assessment Services provide a comprehensive, third party evaluation of your state's activities related to this important economic development program. This fee service offers an independent and unbiased review of your state's SSBCI programming.

Prepared collaboratively by the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, the Philadelphia Department of Commerce, and the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation, the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan builds on exciting opportunities for economic growth, public amenities, and sustainable development that were identified in Philadelphia2035 and the Industrial Land & Market Strategy for the City of Philadelphia.

The CDFI Fund‘s Capacity Building Initiative for Financing Healthy Food Options track was created to prepare community development financial institutions (CDFIs) to effectively deploy financial resources to healthy food projects benefitting low-income areas. This resource includes 42 public funding sources, 34 private funding sources and detailed information for each potential source.

>>> SEARCH ONLINE RESOURCE DATABASE   

Annual Roundtable Sponsor

Conference Supporting Sponsor

Interested in putting your organization in front of hundreds of economic development finance professionals in the state? Sponsor the CDFA Pennsylvania Financing Roundtable in 2013.