Latest Industry Developments

CARS™ Gearing Up for 2009
CARS™ staff are gearing up for the 2009 ratings schedule! It's early but at the end of the summer, we will finalize the schedule of CDFIs that CARS™ will rate during 2009. It's important to have your CDFI in the CARS™ pipeline but it's even more important to have your investors contact us about making your CDFI a CARS™ priority for 2009. The schedule is based on CDFIs requested by CARS™ subscribers. Contact your investors and tell them to request that you be scheduled for a CARS™ rating in 2009. For more information, please contact Paige Chapel, EVP CARS™ at pchapel@opportunityfinance.net or 206.328.6110.

Call for 2008 State Legislation!
OFN is conducting research for its annual State Legislation Guide on opportunity finance, and this year we are updating our guide to make it an even more effective tool for your state level advocacy efforts.

If you are aware of any new legislation, amendments to current state legislation that affect CDFI activity, or regulatory changes please contact Dafina Williams at dwilliams@opportunityfinance.net. Please send the bill number, a brief description of the bill, and its status.

View the 2007 report: Leveraging State Legislation to Support Opportunity Finance

Welcome Nicholas Burstein
Nicholas (Nick) Burstein has joined OFN as Associate, Strategic Communications to assist OFN with branding, marketing, and strategic communications. His primary focus is providing layout, trafficking, and production coordination to deliver a unified visual identity and high quality results across all communications materials.

He comes to OFN with three years experience working at a local ad agency, where he produced packaging, catalog pages, advertisements, trade show materials, and direct mail pieces for his clients, including Brother International (provider of printers and label makers). He graduated from Kutztown University with a BFA in Communication Design.

OFN has just published a report that looks at how opportunity finance is responding to the foreclosure crisis. "Predatory Mortgage Lending and the Current Foreclosure Crisis: Market Challenges and Opportunity Finance Responses” provides a background on opportunity finance and successful subprime lending, the rise of predatory mortgage lending, and the current subprime fallout. The paper focuses on strategies that individual CDFIs are using to prevent foreclosures and to mitigate the negative impact of high foreclosure rates. Seven umbrella strategies are discussed and highlighted though 21 case studies that examine product and service development, challenges, and results.

The External Relations team is happy to announce that Carol Carr has accepted the Senior Associate position. Carol will begin on May 19, 2008. Her primary responsibilities are: proposal writing, funder and investor report writing; donor and investor tracking, prospect research and assistance with sponsorship recruitment and fulfillment. The position is based in our headquarters in Philadelphia. Please join us in welcoming Carol.

Opportunity Mortgage Network has Partnered with Energy Programs Consortium
Opportunity Mortgage Network (OMN) has partnered with and is receiving grant support from Energy Programs Consortium (EPC) to design and implement an affordable 1-4 family mortgage product that supports energy efficiency improvements for low and moderate income families in up to 11 participating states.

The NEXT American Opportunity: Good Policies for a Great America, our book of policy recommendations, will publish next month! We’re planning an exciting Web presence to complement it. You, and policymakers, will be able to find the book’s issue papers, policy recommendations, stories, and fact sheets on the Web site. We’ll rotate the spotlight to cover various issues, and provide ways for you to use the recommendations and for policymakers (current and potential) to learn more about opportunity finance. Look for the site to go live this summer!

OFN Teams With New PR Firm
OFN has recently contracted with Pro-Media Communications for public relations services this year. Pro-Media is based out of New York and California, and is a bicoastal boutique communications firm dedicated to social change. Since 1986, they have helped hundreds of social change agents hone strategies, find their audiences, shape their messages and have an impact. We expect big things from this partnership.

New CDFI Data Project Report Released

The CDFI Data Project (CDP), an industry collaborative managed by Opportunity Finance Network, has released a new version of the popular publication Community Development Financial Institutions: Providing Capital, Building Communities, Creating Impact that analyzes fiscal year (FY) 2006 data from 505 CDFIs. In 2006, CDFIs in this study invested $4.75 billion in FY 2006 had a net charge-off ratio of 0.46%, which compares favorably to the net charge-off ratio of 0.39% for all FDIC insured financial institutions. The new FY 2006 version is the sixth edition of this important publication and is available as an electronic download only.

Opportunity Finance Network would like to thank the Home Depot Foundation for its generous contribution to expand our capacity to provide education, training, and planning leadership on green housing finance to the national network of opportunity finance practitioners. This grant will enable OFN to provide training on Green Financing at our Regional Meetings and Conference and it will enable us to develop a longer term Green Financing strategy. Thank You Home Depot.

Opportunity Finance Network has already approved $2.75 million in financing to 6 CDFIs in 2008 that finance affordable housing, community facilities, and small businesses in low-income communities throughout the U.S. We've also closed 14 loans this year for a total $14.5 million (including 2 loans totaling $7.5 million for the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance).

House Appropriations Committee Approves $105 Million for CDFI Fund in FY2009
The House Appropriations Committee marked up the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations for FY 2009, which includes $105 million for the CDFI Fund, an $11 million increase over last year’s funding level and $76 million increase over the Bush administration’s request.

Stay tuned to see the new graphic design for the 2008 OFN Conference. You will see it first on the Save the Date conference postcard in early July, and then again on the conference brochure that mails in the fall. Every year we seek to create a unique design that showcases the big ideas that will be explored, highlights the locale, and expresses the general theme. If you are not on our mailing or email lists, this is a very good time to enroll – and ensure you won’t miss any of our upcoming communications. Contact Jacqueline Fox at jfox@opportunityfinance.net if you want to sign up to get mailings from OFN. You can opt out at any time.

The Midwest Regional meeting was held on June 3rd in Chicago. The fifty attendees engaged in discussions on green finance, the housing situation, and more. To read more about this meeting, click here. To read about the April 30th Western Regional Meeting, click here.

OFN would like to thank the following donors for their generous support:

• The 13 sponsors to date who have signed on to support the 2008 OFN Conference.
• Bank of America for its sponsorship of the Mid-West Regional Meeting.
• The Home Depot Foundation for its sponsorship of OFN’s Regional Meetings.
• The Energy Program Consortium for its support of the Mortgage Platform.
• WAMU for its support of CARS™
• The Ford Foundation for its support of OFN’s upcoming policy book The NEXT American Opportunity: Good Policies for a Great America.

See all our generous donors.