Opportunity Finance Network

Meeting with Chairman Bernanke

Briefly, A Briefing. Yesterday, Elyse Cherry (our Interim Board Chair) and I met for about an hour with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to discuss our work in anticipation of his Keynote Speech on November 1st at our Conference. Chairman Bernanke impressed both of us with his interest in our work and his appreciation for the roles we play in the economy generally. He clearly understood what we do, how we do it, and the transformation we are going through as an industry. We both came away excited about what he might talk about at the Conference.

(For conference details, click here.)

Congratulations!

The 2006 Awards Results are In. Congratulations to all the CDFIs that won awards in the Native, TA, and Core funding rounds of the CDFI Fund's 2006 awards.

Our preliminary staff tabulations is that Opportunity Finance Network Members won 62% of the awards and 73% of the dollars, but we are double-checking the numbers. This is significantly higher than the historical averages, which hover around 45%-50% of the total dollars.

CDFI Fund Awards

The Results Are In. Yesterday the CDFI Fund announced more than $4 million in awards for Native CDFIs. Today it will announce more than $20 million in Core Funding. The Opportunity Finance Network staff will prepare a comprehensive analysis of the awards.

Mid-Atlantic Regional Membership Meeting

Trenton, September 8th. On the heels of well-attended and successful regional membership meetings in New England and California, we are gearing up for our Mid-Atlantic Regional Membership Meeting in Trenton, NJ, on September 8th. HSBC has generously sponsored the event.

More than 30 people have already signed up for this full-day meeting. The agenda will center around two discussions. In the morning, we'll discuss the industry's strategic progress in the "grow, change, or die" era, including Opportunity Finance Network's financing, policy and branding work. In the afternoon, we are going to discuss in depth the capitalization opportunities and challenges CDFIs are facing.

To sign up or to learn more, contact Blake Myers at bmyers@opportunityfinance.net.

Excellence Awards

Is There an Award in Your Future? Nominations are open for the 2006 Wachovia Excellence Awards for Opportunity Finance presented by Opportunity Finance Network. We will recognize excellence in four areas:

• Strong Financial Performance
• Policy that Increase Private Investment
• Scale Innovations, and
• Partnerships

The deadline for nominating an organization for an award is September 15, 2006.

Conference Regisgtration is Open

Click here. To register for the 2006 Opportunity Finance Network Conference (or just to find out more or download a conference brochure), visit our easy-access Conference site.

Opportunity Finance Policy Agenda

Chicago Retreat. I am in Chicago with the Opportunity Finance Network's Policy Committee to map out a way forward for our policy efforts. Over the past several years we have steadily built up our policy assets--with many more Members getting involved, our Washington presence growing, success in beating back efforts to kill the CDFI Fund and in other areas. Now we are preparing to "take the policy offensive" in the form of a re-energized strategy going forward.

I will report more after the retreat. Our goal is to introduce the agenda at the 2006 Opportunity Finance Conference in Washington, DC, this fall.