A new chapter in the story of U.S. infrastructure is at hand because major shifts are coming to how it's financed and funded. After years where the phrase "infrastructure week" had become a punchline about federal inactivity, President Joe Biden made funding public projects a top priority of his 2020 campaign agenda. Now, Congress has passed the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which promised a $550 billion infusion of new cash into the sector.

The Council of Development Finance Agencies is pleased to announce Steve Girodat, Economic Development Specialist for the City of Detroit in Michigan, as the newest graduate of the prestigious Development Finance Certified Professional (DFCP) program. Mr. Girodat joins the ranks of fellow DFCP graduates who are recognized as the most qualified leaders in the development finance industry.

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act amends the tax-exempt bond provisions of the Internal Revenue Code to enhance the financing options available to state and local governments to address the highlighted infrastructure needs. Specifically, the package adds two new categories of exempt facility private activity bonds (PABs) and additional volume cap for transportation PABs.

The Intro Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Finance WebCourse explores the process of creating, operating, and maintaining a community-based PACE program. This two-day course will feature a comprehensive overview of PACE including program design, capital markets analysis, investor attraction, legal and regulatory considerations, market potential, and operations. This training course is designed to put your community on the path to energy independence while creating jobs and improving the environment.

CDFA members gener8tor and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT) have announced a new partnership aimed at growing businesses in Colorado's opportunity zones. The gBETA: Colorado Opportunity Zone Capital Accelerator program will use gener8tor's gBETA model to increase access to capital for businesses in the state's opportunity zones.

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina M. Raimondo is pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) is made permanent and will be expanded and elevated with the passage of this historic legislation. This action allows the agency to increase its programs and outreach to the Nation's more than 9 million minority-owned businesses.

To achieve the broader range of positive impact possible with place-based investments, policymakers at all levels should take an integrated approach to transformative placemaking, which enables them to design their strategies and evaluate their results more holistically. This report highlights how Michigan is using state policy to transform its places.

A Metro Council committee has approved a tax district for a $115 million development project in the Phoenix Hill neighborhood. The district would include a 130-room hotel, more than 350 housing units, 70,000 square feet of commercial space, and a parking garage. The project would agree to hire within the neighborhood, with priority to current and former residents and a wage floor of $15 an hour.

Key low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) provisions were added to the House version of the Build Back Better (BBB) plan in early November after they were left out of the White House's initial framework. The latest House package calls for increasing the 9% LIHTC allocation cap by 10% plus inflation each year from 2022 to 2024 when it will have risen to $3.97 per capita or a small state minimum of about $4.58 million.

Rural housing and community development professionals across the country convened at the annual meeting of the National Rural Housing Coalition. Coalition members will discuss rural housing programs and policy issues and the status of federal legislation affecting affordable housing programs.

The Mid-Willamette Valley Council of Governments (MWVCOG) is seeking a Senior Loan Officer. This Senior Staff position is part of the Economic and Community Development Division of the COG which houses the Economic Development District Support Staff. This position will manage the financial services to small businesses, including counseling, loan packaging, and information/access to a variety of public sector financial resources, as well as managing the agency's loan portfolio.

MWCDP is a well-established, rapidly growing, community development and economic development organization with a 25-year history of success. We are located in beautiful northwest Montana. Our mission is to improve the quality of life of all the residents of the region we serve. We work to develop a sustainable local economy in communities which are safe, culturally respectful, environmentally progressive, and resilient.

Located in beautiful northwest Montana, Mission West Community Development Partners (MWCDP) seeks a committed and creative leader to join our rapidly growing community focused economic development organization. Our mission is to improve the quality of life for every resident of the 3-county region we serve.

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This is the fiscal year (FY) 2021 report to Congress on the financial health of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund. The MMI Fund supports FHA's Single-Family mortgage insurance programs.

To achieve the broader range of positive impact possible with place-based investments, policymakers at all levels should take an integrated approach to transformative placemaking, which enables them to design their strategies and evaluate their results more holistically. This report highlights how Michigan is using state policy to transform its places. These examples show how other states can leverage their own assets to catalyze revitalization by finding creative ways to finance projects and engage diverse stakeholders.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation's (MEDC) focus on direct community investment is unique among its state-level peers. A strategy of MEDC Community Development Incentives (CDI) Programs is to identify and actualize place-based investment opportunities that may otherwise lie dormant without public support. The goals of place-based economic development programming include the betterment of neighborhoods and commercial corridors to attract occupancy and investment. MEDC asked Dynamo Metrics ("Dynamo") to quantify the impacts of these investments on nearby neighborhoods and commercial corridors.

Federal, state, and local policies profoundly affect nearly every aspect of American neighborhoods, including their economic vitality, their shape and form, their social fabric, and their forms of self-governance. The conditions facing American communities in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic did not appear out of thin air. They were the predictable result of decades of deliberate policy choices at all levels of government.

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