Most low- to moderate-income households in North America must contend with the critical shortage in medium-density housing. Since the mid-1940s, American cities have been emblematic of low- and high-density developments with little in-between. The...

During this installment of the CDFA Food Systems Finance Webinar Series, panelists discuss how revolving loan funds can be used to support small businesses, entrepreneurs, and microenterprises to strengthen local and regional food systems. The...

Local and Regional Foods are a small but vitally important part of agriculture sales in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Local and Regional Food Systems Resource Guide is intended to help stakeholders navigate USDA...

The CDFA-NASDA Foundation Socially Disadvantaged Farmers & Ranchers Access to Capital Toolkit is a set of best practice resources designed to provide practical assistance to communities looking to invest in socially disadvantaged farmers and...

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...

Accelerator for America and the International Economic Development Council present the first segment in a two-part series exploring the needs and opportunities to drive more equitable entrepreneurship and small business growth in communities across...

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...

Funding Sources for Food-Related Businesses includes sources of local, regional, and national finance opportunities that may be available to producers, distributors, food hubs, and food-related businesses. Initially informed by a list of funding...

The American Rescue Plan has helped to power one of the strongest and most equitable recoveries on record while making investments that position our nation for economic success in the coming decades. Over the last year, American Rescue Plan programs...

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...

To help local policymakers, leaders, advocates, researchers, and others understand policy options for communities seeking to increase access to healthy food, the Healthy Food Policy Project (HFPP) developed a framework to show how local...

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...

This report builds on previous publications to further examine the characteristics, financing experiences, and credit outcomes for three subsets of small business credit applicant firms: those that applied to only online lenders, those that applied...

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...

The Kansas City region (Metro KC) has a rich set of support resources for its entrepreneurial community. However, the region still has ample room to develop in terms of connecting entrepreneurs to the capital and support they need to launch and grow...

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) launched a joint resource guide to help community organizations access USDA and EDA resources to build strategies to boost economic...

Food and agriculture-related businesses are often perceived as too risky for traditional lending approaches, yet CDFA research tells a different story. This report, with loan-level data from over a thousand funds nationwide, demonstrates that food...

The Global Alliance for the Future of Food and Transformational Investing in Food Systems Initiative (TIFS) released a comprehensive new report that gives investors a roadmap of creative finance strategies that support entrepreneurs, farmers,...

LISC partnered with Next City to develop a playbook for equitable small business recovery that is tailored to government audiences in different kinds of economic and regional contexts both urban and rural. Drawing on original research and diverse...

The Federal Reserve has created this book to bring together community and economic development researchers, practitioners, philanthropists, and others to showcase the great work happening across this country and to outline a framework for conducting...

This policy example outlining an approach for the design and implementation of the proposed Community Restoration and Revitalization Fund (CRRF) is a companion to the report, "A Blueprint for the Next Generation of Federal Place-Based Policy."

The purpose of this training webinar is to assist applicants with understanding the guidelines for Assessment Grants (Community-wide and Site-specific), Revolving Loan Fund Grants, Cleanup Grants. This document includes: a general overview, types of...

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.

U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the Department is increasing the maximum loan amount to $400,000 under the Intermediary Relending Program. This change is in accordance with provisions in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018...

This brief analyzes U.S. EDA data from 2010 to 2019 to paint a broad picture of the agency’s programs and grantmaking activities. During this period, EDA invested an average of $361 million a year across its programs.

Small and midsize cities (SMCs) face multiple challenges including uneven economic growth, growing income inequality, and growing poverty. Uniting community development principles and economic development practice, with a focus on elevating...

Many economic development organizations (EDOs) have embraced the mission to support entrepreneurial firms in their communities. EDOs engage in their entrepreneurial ecosystems, in part, by providing resources, sometimes in the form of business...

Together, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development mission area have developed this Joint Resource Guide to further our commitment to...

The RISE Miami-Dade Fund (RISE) grew from an idea proposed by a diverse coalition to an effective team delivering technical assistance, advice, and much-needed capital to Miami-Dade County’s hard-to-reach small businesses. This report demonstrates...

This report describes how three CDFIs drive economic growth in low-income and historically marginalized communities through a model defined by the EFOD Collaborative as Equitable Food Oriented Development (EFOD). EFOD is a development approach that...

This Interactive Guide from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides an interactive, step-by-step approach for users to filter through more than 90 broadband related programs compiled from 12 federal agencies...

A Playbook for Scaling Latino-Owned Businesses is designed to support the scaling and continued growth of Latino-owned businesses by offering entrepreneur support organizations, financial institutions, and other stakeholders actions they can take to...

America’s rural workforce provides a vital foundation for the nation’s economy. Rural America supplies the nation’s food and energy resources, and the fiber necessary for goods and manufacturing. As USDA continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic...

This playbook provides concrete guidance on how to implement a community-rooted approach to economic inclusion—one that can build wealth within underinvested communities, while reducing economic inequities within entire cities by connecting more...

This guide was created by the USDA in 2021 for community leaders and other local entities. The guide highlights four key assistance types necessary to building a stronger rural workforce: 1) Workforce development planning; 2) Infrastructure and...

Recognizing the urgency of the pandemic and related crises, on June 7, 2021, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approached the U.S. Impact Investing Alliance to write a report about the current landscape of capital sources for community investment...

The USDA Rural Development published a final rule outlining changes to the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) on June 7, 2021. The program provides loans and grants to microenterprise development organizations to help them establish...

Federal economic adjustment assistance (EAA) programs were established, in part, to help workers adjust to these economic disruptions. Experts in the GAO's roundtable identified a range of challenges to using EAA programs to effectively respond to...

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 table includes all the federal-to-local funding streams in the American Rescue Plan that reach cities and their residents. It does not include appropriations to Tribal Governments or Agency appropriations focused on program operations at the...

This report from Drexel University's Nowak Metro Finance Lab provides a guide to federal funding in the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The authors place a special emphasis on formula funds received by local anchors, competitive grants, and funds...

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...

The federal programs and tools available today to help generate social and economic development in rural communities serve as a reminder of active and broad federal involvement in the 20th century, and the possibilities for federal leadership to...

This presentation from the EDA discusses Revolving Loan Fund de-federalization and implementation of the RLF Act passed in late 2020.

Throughout the CDFA EDA RLF Best Practices Program, several common characteristics emerged from high performing RLFs. The best practices outlined in this guide synthesize these exceptional traits and address the strategies employed by successful EDA...

This tactical guide is designed to help city economic development leaders support minority- and women-owned (MWBE) and low-to-moderate income (LMI) small businesses in their communities by providing case-tested programs and strategies that can be...

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...

CDFA released the final publication of the CDFA Food Finance White Paper Series, Advancing Local Food Systems Through Development Finance. This webinar provides an overview of this publication as we review CDFA's framework for expanding traditional...

An investment in food infrastructure will ensure that Native producers have access to reliable markets and the wraparound support services that are so critical to robust food systems. By approaching infrastructure from a new model and linking...