Croatan Institute and Self-Help announce the release of a major new collaborative report that explores leading challenges faced by the Farm Credit System – the largest lender in the agricultural sector. This new report documents leading...

This guide from Bricker Graydon outlines the array of tools with which Ohio economic development practitioners can intervene to stimulate or induce development to occur — or occur sooner than market forces sometimes allow — in their communities....

Columbus-Franklin County Finance Authority stated that despite stubborn inflation and labor shortages, development continues at a steady pace throughout central Ohio. Deals they closed will help finance a variety of infrastructure projects, and they...

The purpose of this toolkit is to provide an overview of the tools in the development finance toolbox -- such as bonds, tax increment finance, tax credits, and revolving loan funds -- and how they can direct and attract capital to rural businesses...

The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) is pleased to announce that Senators Brown (D-OH) and Ernst (R-IA) have introduced the Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act (MAMBA) in the U.S. Senate as S. 2723. MAMBA would...

CDFA's Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act was introduced as H.R. 3787 in the U.S. House of Representatives with bipartisan support by Rep. LaHood (R-IL), Kildee (D-MI), Feenstra (R-IA), and Evans (D-PA).

The most flexible, transparent, and customized financing built exclusively for organic, regenerative, and transitioning farmers.

This guide was written for people who need assistance starting, expanding, or owning a farm or ranch. This guide will help you identify concerns and questions you may have before you start the loan process.

A new report from Croatan Institute highlights how the Soil Wealth Area model can facilitate more investment in regenerative agriculture, enhance conservation, and support resilient rural economies. The report provides specific recommendations for...

The CDFA Disaster Recovery Bonds Policy Proposal outlines the CDFA national legislative proposal for a special, permanent category of Disaster Recovery Bonds.

Linking development finance and food systems can be a daunting undertaking for any community. Research on the current ecosystem of food systems finance has positioned CDFA to identify key strategies for the path ahead in this work. The Food Systems...

Regenerative farms rely on small-to-mid scale, aligned infrastructure to process, transport, and market their products. These middle infrastructure businesses help to improve farm income and bolster regional food economies while providing...

This white paper examines: CMB Basics, CMBs in a theoretical historical context, a theoretical example of CMBs in Colorado, a second example of how CMBs could work in Minnesota, CMB legal considerations, CMBs and COVID-19, best markets for CMBs, and...

More than two dozen advocates for low-income housing and community investment are sounding the alarm over the global tax deal agreed to by the U.S. and dozens of other countries. The advocates specifically are worried about proposed rules for a...

Long-awaited federal legislation addressing the phase-out of United States market reliance upon the London Interbank Offered Rate (“LIBOR”)1 as a reference rate was signed into law. With less than 16 months remaining before the expected end of USD...

This report provides a brief review of bond fundamentals and a more detailed examination of the rules and definitions surrounding private activity bonds to help clarify the impact of proposed modifications.

The purpose of the report is to equip value chain actors with innovative financial mechanisms and incentive strategies that can be employed in agricultural sustainability projects to support producers in scaling conservation adoption.

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series, we explored economic insights for 2022, including the impacts of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, the state of the bond market, and an outlook on economic...

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (the “Act”) adds two categories of tax-exempt bonds that may be issued for exempt facilities and increases the amount of tax-exempt bonds authorized to be issued for one existing category of tax-exempt...

IRS Revenue Procedure 2021-45 sets out the calendar year 2022 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Bond Volume Caps.

The CDFA Annual Volume Cap Report provides an overview of volume cap trends and how private activity bonds (PABs) were used from state to state. The 2019-2020 Annual Volume Cap Report is the most comprehensive analysis of PAB volume cap trends and...

For 50 years, the nation’s state housing finance agencies (HFAs) and their partners have convened at the annual conference of the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA). In 2021, NCSHA marks a half-century of state HFA collaboration,...

This framework for green infrastructure can help the City of New Orleans take a quantum leap forward by inspiring innovation and proactively using public funding to stimulate private investment. The Resilient New Orleans Finance Plan will serve as...

Novogradac conducted an analysis of the private activity bond (PAB) financed by test for low-income housing tax credits (LIHTCs). The analysis determined that lowering the financed by test for PAB test from the current law threshold of 50 percent to...

The Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) published a Fact Sheet about its proposed Concepts Statement on notes to financial statements. The public comment period for the Revised Exposure Draft ends October 15, 2021.

CDFA hosted this Legislative Briefing on September 22, 2021 to provide updates on the status of the infrastructure bill and next steps.

This webinar discussed how Bonds, Tax Increment Finance, Tax Credits as well as the litany of federal funding through recent legislation can work for your project and ultimately the community that is benefitting.

This report from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee (CDLAC) analyzes the allocation of the state’s annual debt ceiling in 2020 and allocation of private activity bonds. Until recently, the state's debt ceiling wasn’t reached. In 2020,...

This report evaluates Kansas' STAR bonds financing program’s economic and fiscal impact by answering two questions: 1) Do current STAR bond attractions satisfy the Department of Commerce’s tourism-related goals; and 2) How long will it take the...

This Ballard Spahr white paper describes current market standards for ESG bond labeling, verification, and disclosure, with a focus on green bonds and social bonds, best practices for primary and secondary market disclosure and post-issuance...

The Governor’s 2021‑22 May Revision budget proposes $36 million General Fund to pay the first, partial payment on the state’s outstanding federal Unemployment Insurance (UI) loan and proposes to direct $1.1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan...

This MSRB study examines the taxable bond market through the lens of the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines taxable bond issuance volumes during the pandemic and compares them to levels seen during the Build America Bonds program. In many cases, taxable...

This FHWA webinar discusses how municipal bonds and debt can be used as a value capture strategy for highway-related projects. The webinar is intended for professionals from States, cities, counties, Tribes, and metropolitan and rural transportation...

This is the first State of the Market Report for North America. This report describes the shape and size of labelled green, social and sustainability (GSS) debt issued by entities domiciled in either the USA or Canada extending to the end of March...

Using a novel data set on municipal private debt disclosures, the authors of this academic research study the effectiveness and market impact of disclosure regulation in the municipal debt market. By comparing reportable private debt events to the...

This research from Fitch Ratings examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has complicated housing affordability. Issues that led to the persistent housing unaffordability preceded COVID-19. The pandemic caused an economic contraction felt among millions...

This CDFA Legislative Briefing took place on June 16, 2021. We discussed the status of the infrastructure bill and CDFA's latest efforts on Capitol Hill. We also outlined important action items that you can take to ensure that bond financing...

The Resilience in New Mexico Agriculture Strategic Plan provides broad recommendations are coupled with specific, actionable strategies. The implementation of this plan is critical to achieving greater agricultural and natural resource resiliency,...

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Webcast Series, we explored the trend of CDFIs furthering their social impact investing goals by obtaining credit ratings to issue debt.

During this installment of the CDFA Food Systems Finance Webinar Series, we explored how investing in food-centered redevelopment can restore local food systems infrastructure, catalyze additional neighborhood development, and protect healthy,...

This publication provides an overview of the federal tax law rules that apply to municipal financing arrangements commonly known as “governmental bonds.” It is intended to help issuers meet federal tax law requirements to ensure that interest...

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series, we discussed strategies for aligning social justice priorities with bond financing and actions in the muni markets.

The New Partnership on Infrastructure seeks to advance national policies driven by local innovation, with cities serving as testbeds for experimentation and transferable solutions. This document champions that idea. It is a summation of local...

The 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure reveals we’ve made some incremental progress toward restoring our nation’s infrastructure. For the first time in 20 years, our infrastructure is out of the D range. While this report grades 17...

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series, we explored the economic recovery and how it will affect the bond market since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

IRS Revenue Procedure 2020-45 sets out the calendar year 2021 Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and Bond Volume Caps.

Recently there has been a surge in issuance of taxable municipal bonds. Between January and November of 2020, $129.3 billion in taxable bonds were issued (31% of all municipal bonds issued over this period), up from $67.3 billion in 2019 and $25.1...

During the final installment of this year’s CDFA-PFM Capital Markets Webinar Series, we talked about bond guarantee and credit enhancement programs and how they can be a solution for long-term recovery.

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series, we explore how a myriad of development finance tools are being implemented strategically to support modernization projects and the new construction of educational...

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for broadband and the gaps in broadband access. As part of our collaboration with Ice Miller, this video is designed to provide a review of the various approaches to expanding broadband access and how to assess...