President Biden's roughly $2 trillion plan aims to improve U.S. infrastructure and shift to greener energy over the next eight years. The infrastructure spending plan is the first of a two-part proposal to help the nation's economy recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The President is expected to unveil his package focusing on the "care economy," including investments in education and child care, in coming weeks.

Join us on April 13, 2021 for the next installment of the CDFA Food Systems Finance Webinar Series where we will explore how investing in food-centered development -- such as farmers markets, local restaurants, kitchen incubators, aggregation facilities, and more -- can restore local food systems infrastructure, catalyze additional neighborhood development, and protect healthy, sustainable communities.

JobsOhio, the state's privatized economic development nonprofit, will invest $50 million this year in taking ownership stakes in start-up companies. The JobsOhio Growth Capital program aims to help fledgling businesses attract funding while making a profit that JobsOhio can invest in future companies. The approach is similar to venture capital.

Indiana announced the selection of a second round of pilot communities to be part of the Rural Opportunity Zone Initiative (ROZI), an effort that provides technical assistance and capacity-building support to rural areas. The purpose of ROZI is to build the capacity of Opportunity Zones located in rural Indiana to attract private, public, and/or philanthropic sector investments that support locally-driven priorities.

U.S. Department of Energy announced that they will revive their Loan Programs Office, which has $43 billion in lending authority. The plan is to direct billions of dollars into the electric vehicle industry to boost domestic production and deployment, creating 647,000 electric vehicle jobs in the next five years, and make $4.5 billion available for renewable energy and energy efficiency projects.

Arizona Senators Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly and Arizona Congressman Tom O'Halleran applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture's decision to award the Navajo Tribal Utility Authority a $235 million Rural Development loan for critical improvements to utility services on the Navajo Nation.

Construction has started on the 60,000-square-foot New York State Regional Food Hub in the Hunts Point neighborhood of the Bronx. The $39 million project cold-storage facility will support local farmers and underserved New Yorkers. The publicly funded project will expand GrowNYC's wholesale distribution infrastructure that makes local foods accessible to underserved New Yorkers through wholesale buyers, including institutions and restaurants, and through nonprofit group partnerships.

The Senate voted 92-7 on March 25 to extend the Paycheck Protection Program to the end of May. The vote cleared the measure that would extend the program, which is due to expire on March 31. The House passed the bill 415-3 earlier this month, and it next heads to President Joe Biden for his signature.

FCLF is seeking an experienced Community Development Loan Officer to promote FCLF in the Central Florida area. Successful candidates will identify potential projects and will obtain, underwrite, and analyze loan applications for commercial loans to benefit primarily not-for-profit enterprises, which would be funded by loans facilitated through FCLF.

Invest Atlanta, the Economic Development Authority for the City of Atlanta, seeks a driven, passionate, and resourceful team player to partner with our existing Small Business Development team and lead Invest Atlanta's Entrepreneurship and Innovation initiatives. This professional will have two to five years of experience working with or in a tech entrepreneur ecosystem with specific experience supporting equity and economic mobility for female and minority entrepreneurs and startups.

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This excel sheet from the CDFI Fund contains transaction-level data collected on New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) investments across the nation from fiscal years (FY) 2003 - 2019.

There are over 300 Superfund National Priorities List sites and thousands of Superfund removal sites located in or partially in Opportunity Zones. This webinar discussed Opportunity Zone tax benefits in the context of redeveloping Superfund sites and other types of contaminated properties and how communities, local governments, and developers can utilize these benefits.

Opportunity Zones are a powerful way to encourage revitalization in economically distressed communities. Redevelopment of current or former Superfund sites may qualify for Opportunity Zone tax benefits. View this EPA fact sheet for more information.

SSBCI was signed into law as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. CDFA hosted this National SSBCI 2.0 Call serving as an interface between Treasury and stakeholders during the rulemaking process. On March 26, 2021, we discussed insights and recommendations to Treasury and our understanding of what resources need to be developed.

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