The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) has released updated Investment Areas for the Community Development Financial Institutions Program (CDFI Program). Investment Areas have been revised using the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011-2015 American Community Survey (ACS) to provide more current socioeconomic and demographic data that reflect changes since the 2006-2010 ACS CDFI Investment Area data was posted.
The CDFI Fund is renewing the Investment Area data as part of a larger effort to ensure that the data used to determine the eligibility for CDFI Fund programs is current. The CDFI Fund revises program eligibility criteria to coincide with each subsequent full five-year ACS data release.
There will be a one-year transition period for the updated Investment Area data. New applicants for CDFI certification and those CDFIs reaffirming their Target Markets for the Annual Certification and Data Collection Report (ACR) may use either the 2006-2010 ACS data or 2011-2015 ACS data to identify their Investment Areas and Target Markets until October 1, 2019. After that date, CDFIs must use the 2011-2015 ACS data to identify their Investment Areas and Target Markets. Both sets of Investment Area data for identifying Target Markets are available in the CDFI Fund’s Community Investment Mapping System (CIMS).
To assist CDFIs in this transition, the CDFI Fund has provided an FAQ document that contains information on the updated 2011-2015 ACS data for Investment Areas and Target Markets, as well as an Excel file containing a list of eligible CDFI Investment Area census tracts based on both the 2006-2010 and 2011-2015 ACS. The documents may be found on the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov/research, under Program Eligibility Guidance.
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