Congresswoman Maxine Waters Uplifts Her Work to Support Community Financial Institutions and Support Local Minority Businesses

I’d like to thank the members of OFN for your efforts in helping us get legislation supporting CDFIs across the finish line, including testifying before Congress and sharing your stories about how critical CDFIs are to promoting equal access to affordable credit. I am also thankful that O-F-N participated in an advisory committee of CDFI and MDI leaders that Senator Warner and I organized, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’s office, to ensure this historic $12 billion of grants and investments were deployed by Treasury and the CDFI Fund effectively. I have been pleased to hear from many CDFIs and MDIs that have received these funds about how they have leveraged them across America.

Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, delivered remarks in Los Angeles at the Opportunity Finance Network’s (OFN) 40^th annual conference. OFN is a network of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that works to ensure communities underserved by mainstream finance have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services. During the event, Congresswoman Waters highlighted the importance of CDFIs for underrepresented communities and the work she’s carried out to support CDFIs. Additionally, the Congresswoman offered resources for people seeking more information.

“Good evening, everyone. It is an honor to be here today with the Opportunity Finance Network for the 40^th annual conference. I am grateful to be in the presence of so many of you who have been instrumental in strengthening and preserving Community Development Financial Institutions across the country. So, thank you for your tireless efforts.

We know that CDFIs are the lifelines for underserved communities, often stepping in to provide financial products and services for communities who have been historically and systemically shut out from access to traditional banking services. This is why as the previous Chairwoman and now the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, supporting CDFIs has been and remains a top priority of mine.

For instance, after the pandemic hit, Congress quickly passed the CARES Act in March 2020 and launched the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP. However, it quickly became apparent that the hardest hit small businesses, including those owned by people of color, were not getting the relief they needed in the first PPP round. Megabanks were prioritizing their concierge clients over truly small businesses that needed help. That’s why I worked with then Chair of the Small Business Committee Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez and stakeholders like O-F-N to secure a $60 billion set aside for community financial institutions, including CDFIs, in the second round of PPP to ensure diverse and truly small businesses could receive assistance and keep their doors open.

My next endeavor was to ensure affordable capital and credit continued to flow into long underserved communities, including low-income communities of color most devastated by the pandemic. In December 2020, I worked with my Republican and Democratic colleagues in the House and the Senate, especially Senator Mark Warner, to secure $12 billion in capital investments and grants for CDFIs and Minority Depository Institutions to allow them to expand and provide financial access to small businesses and businesses owned by people of color.

I’d like to thank the members of OFN for your efforts in helping us get legislation supporting CDFIs across the finish line, including testifying before Congress and sharing your stories about how critical CDFIs are to promoting equal access to affordable credit. I am also thankful that O-F-N participated in an advisory committee of CDFI and MDI leaders that Senator Warner and I organized, along with Vice President Kamala Harris’s office, to ensure this historic $12 billion of grants and investments were deployed by Treasury and the CDFI Fund effectively. I have been pleased to hear from many CDFIs and MDIs that have received these funds about how they have leveraged them across America.

Last Congress I also led the effort to renew the State Small Business Credit Initiative, or SSBCI, with $10 billion in federal funds to support tens of billions of dollars in new loans, investments, and technical assistance to support small businesses. These funds were intended to ensure that a recovery from the pandemic was broadly and fairly shared. States, territories, and tribal governments across the country are participating. Here in California, we were allocated nearly $1.2 billion in SSBCI funds, and have several state agencies working with financial institutions, including CDFIs, to leverage those funds to support billions in new financing for small businesses. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I joined the Treasury Department to announce a $10 million technical assistance grant to California for legal, accounting, and other advice to help very small businesses and minority-owned businesses secure the loans and investments they need.

Based on the latest data from Treasury, it appears that at least $6 billion of SSBCI supported loans and investments have been made thus far, and more small business financing is being extended every day. I am pleased that a number of OFN members across the country, including Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation and Accion Opportunity Fund based in California, are participating as lenders. For those that are not participating yet, please get in touch with your state agencies administering the program where you are located.  You can find contact information for your state at www.treasury.gov/ssbci Of course, our work to support CDFIs doesn’t end there.

• Last Congress, the House passed my bill entitled “Promoting and Advancing Communities of Color Through Inclusive Lending Act” as part of a broader package of racial economic justice reforms. If enacted, my bill would authorize $4 billion in additional capital, grants, technology support, and other reforms to support CDFIs and MDIs. This Congress, on the 30^th anniversary of the creation of the CDFI Fund, I reintroduced this bill.

• I also worked with Senator Warner to send several letters over the past year, including one to the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure CDFIs could participate in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, and another to urge the CDFI Fund to do more to address the technology needs of CDFIs.

• Additionally, whenever I meet with big bank CEOs, I press them for updates on what their companies are doing to partner with and support CDFIs and MDIs, and I will keep doing so.

As you all know well, we’ve made a lot of progress supporting the invaluable work of CDFIs, and I am committed to building on our successes to advance further support for CDFIs. I look forward to continuing this important work with you all. Thank you.”