The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) today opened the fiscal year (FY) 2017 funding round for the Capital Magnet Fund.
Through the Capital Magnet Fund, the CDFI Fund competitively awards funds to CDFIs and qualified non-profit housing organizations. These awards can be used to finance affordable housing activities, as well as related economic development activities and community service facilities. The objective is to attract private capital to economically distressed communities, including underserved rural areas. Funding for the Capital Magnet Fund comes from allocations made by the Government-Sponsored Enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and varies from year to year. The CDFI Fund plans to provide $119.5 million in awards for the FY 2017 round.
Capital Magnet Fund awardees are able to utilize these funds for financing activities such as affordable housing funds, economic development funds, loan loss reserves, revolving loan funds, risk-sharing loans, and loan guarantees. Recipients are required to leverage private and public funds to finance affordable housing and economic development activities that yield a minimum ratio of 10:1.
In order to provide potential applicants with as much time as possible, the CDFI Fund is posting the Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) and application materials for the Capital Magnet Fund on the CDFI Fund’s website today in advance of the publication of the NOFA in the Federal Register later this week.
Application Materials
The FY 2017 Capital Magnet Fund NOFA, application, application instructions, and related guidance can be found on the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov/cmf under How to Apply Step 2: Apply. The application process consists of two parts: submitting the SF-424 form through Grants.gov, and submitting the rest of the application through the CDFI Fund’s Awards Management Information System (AMIS).
All applicants must be registered in SAM.gov, Grants.gov, and AMIS to apply for funding. Organizations should confirm that their accounts are up-to-date as soon as possible in order to avoid potential application submission problems. New potential applicants are encouraged to begin the registration process now. Registration guidance for Grants.gov and SAM.gov can be found on the websites for those systems. Guidance on using AMIS (including registration) can be found at https://amis.cdfifund.gov/.
The SF-424 is now available for submission through Grants.gov. The CDFI Fund will send out an additional notification when the electronic application is available in AMIS for application submission. At this time, the CDFI Fund anticipates that the AMIS application will be available approximately 4 weeks before the AMIS application due date. In the coming weeks, the CDFI Fund plans to release a Microsoft Excel workbook to help potential applicants organize their application data for entry into AMIS.
The CDFI Fund strongly recommends that the instructions and application timelines are reviewed closely by both first-time and repeat applicants and that all applicants give themselves adequate time to submit the required application materials through Grants.gov and AMIS.
Deadlines
- The deadline for submission of the SF-424 is 11:59 pm Eastern Time (ET) on July 28, 2017. All applicants must submit their SF-424 electronically through Grants.gov. The CDFI Fund strongly encourages all materials to be submitted through Grants.gov at least three days before the deadline.
- The deadline for submission of the Capital Magnet Fund application materials through the CDFI Fund’s Award Management Information System (AMIS) is 5:00 p.m. ET on August 31, 2017. The CDFI Fund strongly encourages all materials to be submitted through AMIS at least three days before the deadline.
- The CDFI Fund will stop taking questions about the application at 5:00 p.m. ET on August 29, 2017.
Please see the NOFA for applicant eligibility requirements and the steps for submitting all parts of the Capital Magnet Fund application.
Learn About Applying to the Capital Magnet Fund
The CDFI Fund will be providing the following opportunities to learn more about the FY 2017 Capital Magnet Fund funding round:
- In-Person Application Workshop: CDFI Fund staff will conduct one in-person FY 2017 Capital Magnet Fund Application Workshop in Washington, DC in July. Due to security requirements at the federal facility where the workshops will be held, anyone wishing to attend the in-person application workshops must register in advance. The CDFI Fund will provide additional information about this workshop, including registration information, soon.
- Q&A Webinars: The CDFI Fund is conducting three targeted live webinars to provide a forum to answer applicant questions about the FY 2017 Capital Magnet Fund application. Please view the Step 2: Apply page of the Capital Magnet Fund website for the dates, times, and access information for each webinar.
Questions
For more information on the Capital Magnet Fund, please submit a Service Request through AMIS, or contact the CDFI Fund’s Help Desk by e-mailing cmf@cdfi.treas.gov or by calling (202) 653-0421. The CDFI Fund will stop responding to questions about the FY 2017 award round at 5:00 p.m. ET on August 29, 2017.
To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit www.cdfifund.gov.