Huge Opportunity for CDFI Credit Unions: $1.73 Billion in Grants Available

Posted by Katy Wagnon on July 3, 2022

GoWest Credit Union Association members designated as Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) are encouraged to leverage the opportunity to apply for new, Equitable Recovery Program (ERP) grants.

The potential grants are generous and could be very impactful for eligible credit unions. The CDFI Fund plans to award $1.73 billion in ERP grants, with award sizes ranging from a minimum of $500,000 to a maximum of $15 million or three times the applicant’s average on-balance sheet Financial Products closed in its last five years, whichever is less.

The funding can be used for these purposes:

• To expand lending, grant-making, and investment in Low- or Moderate-Income communities and to borrowers that have significant unmet capital or financial services needs, and were disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic;
• To build organizational capacity and acquire technology, staff, and other tools necessary to accomplish the activities under a CDFI ERP award.

ERP grants could be used to offset COVID-19 impacts such as job loss, disruptions in healthcare and childcare, increased housing instability, decreased availability of and increased costs of affordable housing and home ownership, broadband accessibility, disruptions in small business operations, and more.

Eligible credit unions must be CDFI-certified as of June 23, 2022, and demonstrate at least 30 percent of average annual Financial Products closed and Grants made have been in ERP-Eligible Geographies over the past five fiscal years. Additional details about applicant eligibility can be found in the NOFA.

Credit unions planning to apply can get started by entering their EIN and UEI numbers in AMIS and submitting the SF-424 form on Grants.gov. These first steps in the application process must be completed by July 26 in order to continue to submit the full application by the Aug. 23 deadline.

“The significant amount of dollars available through ERP offer a huge opportunity for CDFI credit unions to deepen their financial products and services in underserved communities and provide resources and support to advance the recovery and financial capability of households and small businesses that continue to face economic challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Maija Noll, Manager, Community Impact, GoWest Foundation.

The CDFI Fund is hosting an informational webinar on July 7 to help financial institutions prepare their grant applications.

Editor’s note: If you need any assistance, the GoWest Foundation team is happy to help. Please email Maija Noll.

Posted in Public Awareness.