Making Our Strategic Plan Real
Opportunity Finance Network met with our Board of Directors in January to discuss how we are making our strategic plan real. We are focused on our mission of leading our industry to scale according to six strategic goals for 2010, as outlined in our strategic plan. Briefly, they are: high-volume financing systems, a policy offensive, broad and deep understanding of opportunity finance, justice ties, mainstream champions, and strong financial performance.
Financing
News
A high degree of satisfaction was reported by CARSTM subscribers in 2006. OFN interviewed subscribers and learned that nearly all are actively using the CARSTM materials in their underwriting and monitoring.
Innovations
25 Members have recently executed letters of interest to become mortgage originators for the new Mortgage Product that will launch this year…
Results
Opportunity Finance Institutions Side by Side, Eighth Edition. Now Available! Need updated data from a cross section of our membership to analyze and assess an opportunity finance institution or CDFI? The eighth edition of Side by Side highlights key statistics for Opportunity Finance Network Member institutions and CDFIs with all new data from FY 2005. Practitioners, investors, and others can use the rich peer group data to assess our Members’ performance and activity. Available only as a PDF, download Side by Side, Eighth Edition at the Opportunity Finance Network Store. Opportunity Finance Network Members receive one free download.
Policy
News
The Treasury Department´s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced the opening of the fiscal year (FY) 2007 round of its Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program with the publishing of a Notice of Funds Availability (NOFA) in the Federal Register.
Innovations
The 2006 midterm elections were highly partisan and heavily publicized, leaving voters suffering from information overload and many candidates lacking a non-partisan media outlet that allowed them to express their views.
Results
To help oversee the FHLBs' mission, the law regulating them says that each bank must have six directors appointed by their regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Board (FHFB), and that those directors must include two "community interest" directors with special expertise in consumer or community interests in the financial services arena.
Brand
News
We are busy producing Round 2 of the Member Profiles, and anticipate completion before the end of Q1. Members who connect to the brand are eligible for this benefit. A Member Profile is a professionally written and produced overview of your organization.
Innovations
The new Industry Brochure about opportunity finance is now here! We have posted it online so that Members can use it to describe our collective work.
Results
We exceeded our key goal to connect 35 Members with the brand in 2006. In total, 42 Members featured the logo "a Member of Opportunity Finance Network" on their Web sites and printed materials by the end of the year. This helps create the category of opportunity finance and ensures that key audiences make the link from national public awareness and advocacy activity to your work. We encourage all Members to connect!
Knowledge Sharing
News
CDFI Fund NACA applications are due on January 30, 2007. Opportunity Finance Network is offering consulting services to groups that need assistance with their applications. If you are interested, contact Mamata Datta at mdatta@opportunityfinance.net.
Opportunity Finance Network and Oweesta´s program "Organizing a CDFI to Serve Native Communities" is starting up again. This is the last chance to participate in the final round of the Native Communities Financing Initiative program.
For more information on the program, view the NCFI brochure or Sign up for the February session now.
Innovations
Stay Tuned! Opportunity Finance Network and Oweesta are getting ready to offer new programs for Native communities. Organizing a Native Credit Union: A Building Guide and our Peer Shadowing program will be coming soon.
Results
Opportunity Finance Network and Oweesta´s continued success with the NCFI program has led the CDFI Fund to issue another contract to continue and expand our work with native organizations Sixty-seven organizations and/or communities joined the program to initiate the process of starting up a Native CDFI.
Welcome New Members
North Carolina Community Development Initiative Capital, Inc. (NCCDIC) is a federally-certified CDFI based in Raleigh, NC. The CDFI was established by its parent, North Carolina Community Development Initiative, Inc., in 1999 to provide financing to CDCs and other nonprofits serving low-income communities throughout North Carolina. Lending products include acquisition and permanent financing.
MaineStream Finance is a certified CDFI based in Bangor Maine. It began lending in 2000 and at FYE 2005 had over $4.1 million in assets. MaineStream Finance is a private non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting community development through financial training and financing activities to specifically benefit low- and moderate-income residents of Maine.
Industry News
Paulson Announces Kimberly A. Reed to Head CDFI Fund
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson today announced the appointment of Kimberly A. Reed as the new director of the Treasury Department's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund.
OCC's Community Developments Newsletter on Minority-Owned Financial Institutions
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency today released the Winter 2006/2007 edition of its Community Developments newsletter focusing on minority-owned financial institutions and the strategies many employ to serve their niche markets.
NCUF Offers Native American Resources
The National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) has released a white paper on credit unions' opportunities to serve Native Americans and posted Native American outreach resources on its website.
Why Bank Transparency Matters: a Comparison of the U.S. and the U.K.
This new report issued by the New Economics Foundation in London, England, and Woodstock Institute in Chicago, shows the huge disparity in the amount of bank performance data from lower-income neighborhoods available in the U.S. and the U.K.
Job Bank
For a comprehensive list of all current job opportunities, including openings at Opportunity Finance Network, visit the new Job Bank on Opportunity Finance Network's Web site. And now we've made it easier for you to submit job postings online with our new online form.
Feedback
We value your feedback. Please send your comments and suggestions about this e-Newsletter to Lina Page at lpage@opportunityfinance.net.
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