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9/24/2021

U.S. Treasury Announces Inaugural Round of Small Dollar Loan Program Awards | U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. Treasury Announces Inaugural Round of Small Dollar Loan
Program Awards
September 23, 2021

$10.8 Million Awarded to CDFIs to Provide Alternatives to High Cost Small Dollar Loans
WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial
Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) awarded more than $10.8 million in grants to Community
Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) today, through the fiscal year (FY) 2021 round of
the Small Dollar Loan Program (SDL Program), to help expand consumer access to financial
institutions by providing alternatives to high cost small dollar lending.
“I am proud to announce the inaugural round of Small Dollar Loan Program awards, which
will help provide borrowers a ordable alternatives to high rate small dollar loans and
expand consumer access to mainstream financial products,” said CDFI Fund Director Jodie
Harris. “Awards will provide CDFIs capital needed to establish loan loss reserves that are
critical to the support of small dollar lending initiatives, as well as provide technical
assistance to help build their capacity to operate small dollar loan programs.”
Authorized by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 (Pub.
L. 111-203), the SDL Program helps Certified CDFIs address the issue of expanding consumer
access to mainstream financial institutions and provide alternatives to high cost small dollar
loans. The program was also created to help unbanked and underbanked populations build
credit, access a ordable capital, and allow greater access to the mainstream financial
system. Through the SDL Program, the CDFI Fund provides:
Grants for Loan Loss Reserves (LLRs): The awards will enable a Certified Community
Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to establish a loan loss reserve fund in order to
defray the costs of establishing or maintaining a small dollar loan program.
Grants for Technical Assistance (TA): The awards will support technology, sta ing, and
other eligible activities to enable a Certified CDFI to establish and maintain a small dollar
loan program.

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U.S. Treasury Announces Inaugural Round of Small Dollar Loan Program Awards | U.S. Department of the Treasury

SDL Program grants cannot be used to provide direct loans to consumers and may only be
used to support small dollar loan programs that o er small dollar loans to consumers that:
are made in amounts that do not exceed $2,500;
must be repaid in installments;
have no prepayment penalty; and
have payments that are reported to a least one of the consumer reporting agencies that
compiles and maintain files on consumers on a nationwide basis.
A total of 52 CDFIs headquartered in 30 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico
received FY 2021 SDL Program awards. These organizations received awards for the
following purposes:
two organizations received nearly $300,000 in awards for LLRs;
nine organizations received $1.0 million in TA awards; and
41 organizations received $9.5 million in a combination of TA award and LLR awards.

SDL Program award Recipients are comprised of CDFIs of diverse types and include: 28 loan
funds that received $5.2 million; 13 credit unions that received $2.8 million; and 11 banks or
bank holding companies that received $2.8 million. This includes, two organizations
headquartered in Puerto Rico that received $560,000 in awards, and five minority depository
institutions that received a total of $1.6 million in awards.
Of the 52 Recipients, 13 SDL Program awards totaling nearly $3 million (or 28% of total funds
awarded) were made to Recipients with headquarters located in Persistent Poverty Counties,
which exceeds the Congressional mandate of 10%. Persistent Poverty Counties, per
Congressional guidance, are those counties that have experienced poverty rates of at least
20% over the past 30 years as measured by the 2011–2015 five-year data series available
from the American Community Survey of the U.S. Census Bureau.
Additional FY 2021 SDL Program awards information is below. For more information about
the SDL Program, visit the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov/sdlp.

RELATED MATERIALS
FY 2021 SDL Program Award Recipients

AB OUT THE CDF I F UND
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U.S. Treasury Announces Inaugural Round of Small Dollar Loan Program Awards | U.S. Department of the Treasury

Since its creation in 1994, the CDFI Fund has awarded more than $5.1 billion to CDFIs,
community development organizations, and financial institutions through: the Bank
Enterprise Award Program; the Capital Magnet Fund; the CDFI Rapid Response Program; the
Community Development Financial Institutions Program, including the Healthy Food
Financing Initiative; the Economic Mobility Corps; the Financial Education and Counseling
Pilot Program; and the Native American CDFI Assistance Program. In addition, the CDFI Fund
has allocated $66 billion in tax credit allocation authority to Community Development
Entities through the New Markets Tax Credit Program, and guaranteed bonds for over $1.7
billion through the CDFI Bond Guarantee Program.
To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, visit the CDFI Fund’s website at
www.cdfifund.gov.
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