Recipients Demonstrate Increased Lending and Services Exceeding $380 Million to Nation's Most Economically Challenged Areas

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) today announced $40.1 million in awards to 171 FDIC-insured banks through the fiscal year (FY) 2024 round of the Bank Enterprise Award Program (BEA Program), for increasing investments to communities experiencing severe economic distress across the nation. These awards will be reinvested into economically distressed communities and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), thereby fostering additional economic opportunities.

The BEA Program awards provide financial incentives to FDIC-insured depository institutions that exhibit a quantifiable increase in investments directed towards CDFIs or that increase their own lending, investing, or service operations in severely distressed areas. For the purposes of this program, "distressed communities" are characterized by conditions where at least 30% of the population lives below the national poverty level and the unemployment rate is no less than 1.5 times the national average. The CDFI Fund received 176 applications requesting more than $101 million in grants, which is over 2.5 times the amount available.

CDFI Fund Director Pravina Raghavan stated, "The banks receiving awards today are actively engaged in lending within the most severely distressed communities across the nation. They are providing essential loans and investments that other financial institutions are unwilling to offer. Notably, in this round, 126 banks provided $485.3 million in loans to 2,286 businesses in highly distressed areas while 102 banks made $43.2 million in loans and investments to 6,055 residents in these communities."

During the 12-month assessment period of the FY 2024 BEA Program round, the 171 awarded institutions collectively increased:

• Loans and investments in distressed communities by $246.5 million;
• Loans and deposits to CDFIs by $77.8 million;
• The provision of financial services, including deposits, in distressed communities by $55.8 million.

Of the 171 institutions awarded funding, 96 committed to investing approximately $9.6 million in Persistent Poverty Counties, representing 24% of the total appropriated funds for this round. This exceeds the Congressional requirement of 10%. Persistent Poverty Counties, as defined by Congressional guidelines, are those that have sustained poverty rates of at least 20% over the past 30 years, based on data from the 2016-2020 five-year series of the American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Related Materials

• FY 2024 BEA Program Award Book
• FY 2024 BEA Program Award Recipient Partnerships with CDFIs