West Sacramento, Calif. — The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) awarded Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) more than $1 million. The funding will enable RCAC’s Loan Fund, a certified CDFI, to increase lending and investment in low-income and economically distressed communities across the rural West. The Loan Fund offers loans for affordable housing development, environmental infrastructure, community facilities and rural small businesses.

“RCAC is pleased to receive a CDFI Fund grant. This grant will help our Loan Fund to continue to invest in rural and Native communities to ensure they have access to safe drinking water, affordable housing and economic opportunity,” said Stanley Keasling, RCAC Chief Executive Officer.

The CDFI Program invests in CDFIs to serve low-income communities that lack adequate access to affordable financial products and services. For the FY 2017 application period, the CDFI Fund received 434 applications requesting more than $567 million. Since its creation in 1994, the Fund has awarded more than $2.5 billion to CDFIs and the Native American CDFI Assistance program and Bank enterprise Award Program.

“We are very pleased to announce the FY 2017 CDFI Program and NACA Program award recipients. This is the largest pool of awardees in the history of the CDFI Fund,” CDFI Fund Director Annie Donovan said in a press release. “These award recipients represent a diverse array of organization types and community investment strategies, serving a broad spectrum of communities. We are especially proud that one-third of the awardees have committed to investing in Persistent Poverty Counties.”

Founded in 1978, RCAC provides training, technical and financial resources and advocacy so rural communities can achieve their goals and visions. RCAC serves rural communities in 13 western states and the Pacific islands. RCAC provides a broad range of community and economic development services and lending to support local efforts. To find out more about RCAC visit www.rcac.org.

Contact: Julia Helmreich, Director
Communications, Development & Events
(916) 447-9832 ext. 1008
jhelmreich@rcac.org