Say goodbye to traditional online learning and hello to a faster, smarter way to advance your career. The CDFA Summer Institute delivers a complete, comprehensive development finance education in half the time! This year, CDFA is debuting an all-new executive format—designed for busy professionals. Over five days, we're offering five 6-hour streamlined learning experiences from the CDFA Training Institute, making it easier than ever to take multiple courses. No overlapping sessions. No fluff. Just focused, intensive learning designed to fit your schedule. Learn how Bonds, Tax Increment Financing, Tax Credits, and Revolving Loan Funds work—all in one week! All five courses are eligible for the CDFA Training Institute's Development Finance Certified Professional (DFCP) Program. Register for all five courses and fast-track your path to certification!

In late March 2025, the USDA abruptly canceled approximately $1 billion in pandemic-era grants that had been enabling local food banks, schools, and community organizations to purchase produce directly from small farms, a lifeline for over 8,000 growers and numerous food-insecure communities. Organizations like Springfield Community Garden, which supplied meals across Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas, now face dramatic rollbacks in their service capacity to underserved communities. Small farmers report that these grants accounted for up to 25% of annual sales, and the sudden loss has left their markets and planning in chaos.

MassDevelopment has issued a $173 million tax-exempt bond to finance Tufts University's biggest-ever dormitory—a 664-bed, ten-story project in Medford. Partnering with Capstone Development Partners, the university broke ground on the 270,000-square-foot facility, expected to open in August 2027 under Erland Construction. Following community concerns over size, the developer committed $500,000 each to Medford's affordable housing trust and neighborhood improvement funds, and will sponsor a free shuttle to Medford Square. This financing highlights the importance of state-level public-private partnerships to advance bond-supported infrastructure, and showcases how blended financing, community benefits agreements, and transit-oriented siting can advance institutional projects with neighborhood buy-in.

Municipal finance professionals are navigating a market marked by higher, more normalized yields and steepening curve dynamics, offering opportunities across maturities. After record-level issuance in 2024, driven mainly by revenue bonds funding healthcare infrastructure and airports, the market absorbed the supply with resilience, and demand is rising again, particularly in separately managed accounts. Credit fundamentals remain robust—spreads attractive and default rates historically low—even as fiscal pressures prompt close monitoring of private-activity bonds, university and healthcare credits. For investors with active strategies, the municipal market's diverse sectors—from high-yield real estate to A-rated airports—offer compelling, yield-rich avenues in 2025.

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