COVID-19 Resource Center

Development finance has always been at the forefront of recovering from natural disasters and economic challenges. The CDFA COVID-19 Resource Center is a collection of financing programs and resources to address disaster relief and recovery.

As the situation surrounding COVID-19 evolves, small businesses and communities across the country will very quickly face liquidity challenges, job losses, and project stagnation. Credit will be tightening and small businesses will struggle to make payroll while communities will be forced to scale back or halt infrastructure development. Moreover, communities are facing difficulties financing critical infrastructure such as health facilities, broadband networks, and testing centers to address local COVID-19 demands.

Development finance agencies are uniquely positioned to solve these challenges through pragmatic solutions and adjustments to existing initiatives. CDFA developed this COVID-19 Resource Center to serve as a central hub of everything the development finance world is doing to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19.

Subscribe to CDFA's COVID-19 Recovery & Relief Update newsletter for regular updates on relief and recovery financing initiatives.

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-CDFA's COVID-19 Comprehensive Recovery Strategy

Based on the input of our 500+ members, CDFA has developed a set of policy proposals that would allow state and local governments, through development finance agencies, to be immediate problem solvers that can help alleviate the extreme economic challenges facing small businesses and communities to put America securely on the path to recovery.

Read the Comprehensive Recovery Strategy

Unlock Capital for Small Business Immediately

To support small businesses, Congress and the Administration should:

Reauthorize & Fund the State Small Business Credit Initiative
Temporarily Remove Match Requirements from Certain Federal Programs
Amend Existing Revolving Loan Funds

Pass Immediate Bond Financing Provisions

To support communities, Congress and the Administration should:

Pass the Modernizing Agricultural and Manufacturing Bonds Act (MAMBA)
Create a Permanent Category of Disaster Recovery Bonds

Allocate Federal Funding Accordingly

CDFI Fund - $1 billion to address critical community lending needs
EDA - $500 million to seed new, flexible revolving loan funds and to provide direct technical assistance to communities hit hard by the crisis
HUD - $2 billion to address urban disaster recovery due to small business losses
USDA - $2 billion to address rural development stagnation and the loss of small businesses

-Weekly Development Finance COVID-19 Briefings

CDFA hosted weekly briefings about development finance COVID-19 news and resources. These one-hour phone calls featured legislative updates, news from our members, state and local financing strategies, and lessons learned from previous development finance responses to disasters.

CDFA's Weekly Development Finance COVID-19 Briefings were held every Friday at 1:00 PM (Eastern) through May 15, 2020:

-State Response Map

Click a state to view COVID-19 financing programs and related headlines.

-COVID-19 Recovery & Relief Resources

-Federal Resources

The U.S. Department of Agriculture will make available $20M in cost-share assistance to help agricultural producers in Kentucky, Minnesota, South Dakota, and surrounding areas to rebuild storage facilities damaged by devastating natural disaster events in 2021 and 2022.

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) is announcing $11M in Fiscal Year 2022 to fund 18 coastal resilience research projects across the nation. The complex challenges of sea level rise, coastal flooding, and increased storm frequency pose increasing risks to our nation's communities and their surrounding ecosystems.

the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced the approval of an additional group of five states under the American Rescue Plan's Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF): Connecticut, Indiana, Nebraska, North Dakota, and Arkansas. The CPF provides $10B to fund critical capital projects that enable work, education, and health monitoring in response to the public health emergency.

Niagara Falls Public Safety Improvements Funded Through American Rescue Plan
Niagara Frontier Publications | Aug. 19, 2022 |

Congressman Brian Higgins and Niagara Falls, NY Mayor Robert Restaino announced several public safety investments made possible by the more than $57M received through the American Rescue Plan (ARP). Niagara Falls has plans to invest over $11.4M of its ARP funding in public safety,

Established in 2004, Black Business Month is celebrated each August to recognize Black-owned businesses across the nation and the enormous impact they have on America's prosperity. Small businesses are the backbone of the economy, and in Michigan, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) is committed to providing the support, resources and opportunities they need to grow and thrive.

The House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure has approved legislation that includes a series of significant reforms designed to make federal disaster assistance more accessible to disaster survivors.

President Biden announced his latest set of executive actions to turn the climate crisis into an opportunity, by creating good-paying jobs in clean energy and lowering costs for families. By creating good-paying jobs in clean energy and lowering costs for families. His actions will protect communities from climate impacts and expand offshore wind opportunities and jobs in the United States.

Through the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), Pennsylvania has been awarded nearly $268M in American Rescue Plan funding. The funding will be used to spur small business growth and create job opportunities across the commonwealth.

Kansas, approved for up to $69,596,847, will operate a loan participation program, the GROWKS Loan Fund, and an equity program, the GROWKS Angel Capital Support Program, with over 80% of its SSBCI funds.

The SSBCI program will receive nearly $29 million to focus on seed fund investments. Vermont will also allocate another $29 million to a loan participation program, administered by the Vermont Economic Development Authority (VEDA).

View more Federal Resources

-State and Local Resources

Promoting Equity Investments for an Equitable Recovery Members only

The Urban Institute set out to study how innovative policies and programs from abroad could inform state and local efforts in the US to advance an inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. They produced five briefs, each profiling an approach from abroad that addresses a different policy priority: child care, broadband access, local economic development, parks and public space, and housing stability and affordability.

A Better Way to Spend COVID Relief Funds

Cities are currently grappling with how they should prioritize competing programs, initiatives, and ideas. SLFR funds are a once-in-a-generation opportunity and cities have to contend with balancing relief and recovery. While we can't observe the processes in every city, we pull out four emblematic examples that are at the forefront of emerging models of local recovery.

Disaster Resiliency and Recovery Resources: A Guide for Rural Communities Members only

USDA Rural Development (RD) developed this guide as a resource for rural communities seeking disaster resiliency and recovery assistance. The recent National Climate Assessment (NCA) identifies that more frequent and extreme weather and climate-related events, as well as changes in average climate conditions, are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems, and social systems that provide essential benefits to communities.

The American Rescue Plan Can Be a Lifeline for Business Districts

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many small businesses in rural downtowns to urban commercial corridors already faced serious challenges, including decades of disinvestment, limited access to capital and broadband, brain drain, and competition from big-box and online retail. The American Rescue Plan Act —and particularly, its $350 billion in state and local funding—offers a lifeline for these struggling Main Streets.

COVID-19 Complicates Housing Affordability Members only

Bond Finance | Disaster Recovery & Relief | Economic Development | Housing Finance | Social Finance

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 of Americans of many economic strata, and housing insecurity has only worsened for the most vulnerable.

Using State and Local American Rescue Plan Resources to Address Violent Crime Members only

Community Development | Disaster Recovery & Relief | Social Finance | U.S. Dept. of Treasury

This guidance from the Treasury Department examines how states and localities can use the State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds included in the American Rescue Plan Act to reduce and respond to violent crime – particularly gun violence – by investing in community policing, community violence interruption, and other programs that are proven to reduce crime.

Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds: Five Things Governments Need to Know

Disaster Recovery & Relief | Economic Development | Member News | COVID-19

The U.S. Department of the Treasury published its interim final rule to implement the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Fund and the Coronavirus Local Recovery Fund. The American Rescue Plan Act created the $350 billion recovery funds. To support governments in using money distributed from the recovery funds, the interim rule provides critical guidance regarding eligible uses of funds.

How Cities, States, and Tribes Can Boost Entrepreneurship via the American Rescue Plan

The COVID-19 crisis has put thousands of small businesses, from high-growth startups to Main Street employers, out of business. Importantly, the economic impacts of COVID-19 have not been equal. Minority-owned businesses and very small businesses are disproportionately concentrated in the industries most heavily impacted by the COVID-19 crisis such as restaurants, retail stores, and personal services.

American Rescue Plan Act - Local Relief Frequently Asked Questions Members only

After the American Rescue Plan Act was signed into law by President Biden on March 11, 2021, it guaranteed direct relief to all 19,000 cities, towns, and villages in the United States. NLC has identified frequently asked questions about the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Fund grants, and has provided answers based on available information to help cities prepare while Treasury develops official guidance.

American Rescue Plan Tax Credits Available to Small Employers to Provide Paid Leave to Employees Receiving COVID-19 Vaccines

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) allows small and midsize employers, and certain governmental employers, to claim refundable tax credits that reimburse them for the cost of providing paid sick and family leave to their employees due to COVID-19, including leave taken by employees to receive or recover from COVID-19 vaccinations.

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-Additional Resources

-Headlines

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-Upcoming Events

SSBCI Coalition Meeting - Virtual
February 24, 2023
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern

SSBCI Coalition Meeting - Virtual
March 24, 2023
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern

SSBCI Coalition Meeting - Virtual
April 21, 2023
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern

SSBCI Coalition Meeting - Virtual
May 26, 2023
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern

SSBCI Coalition Meeting - Virtual
June 30, 2023
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM Eastern

View more Upcoming Events

-Webcasts

CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series: Analyzing the Impact of COVID-19 Emergency Loan Funds

Disaster Recovery & Relief | Webcasts

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series, we looked at some takeaways from the deployment of CARES Act funds and other emergency pandemic response programs, including how communities designed emergency loan funds and what impacts the funds had on small and micro businesses.

One Year into the Pandemic: New Evidence on How Small Businesses are Faring

Access to Capital | Disaster Recovery & Relief | Webcasts

The Urban Institute hosted this discussion about how small businesses are faring one year after the start of widespread economic shutdowns due to the pandemic. The webinar explored the disconnect between the fall in business activity and revenues, and generally positive small business credit and debt patterns. It also discussed what roles governments and philanthropic entities should play, including what work is needed to ensure businesses historically excluded from access to capital can have a prosperous future.

National SSBCI 2.0 Call - March 26, 2021

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.

CDFA Rural Development Finance Webinar Series: Financing Disaster Resiliency in Rural Communities

During the first installment of the CDFA Rural Development Finance Webinar Series, hear about a new technical assistance program from CDFA designed to support rural communities that have recently experienced a natural disaster. Experts discussed the variety of financing tools available from federal, state, and local sources to encourage investment resilient infrastructure.

National SSBCI 2.0 Call - March 11, 2021

SSBCI was signed into law as part of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. CDFA hosted this National SSBCI 2.0 Call with interested stakeholders on March 11, 2021, to discuss SSBCI 2.0. We discussed key SSBCI 2.0 questions and timelines. We also discussed CDFA's plans for SSBCI education and future engagement. Several states spoke about their efforts to re-launch SSBCI programming.

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