The PA CDFI Network has officially launched its first website. 

“The PA CDFI Network has accomplished much in a short period of time, and a website is ideal to tell our story,” said Varsovia Fernandez, executive director of the PA CDFI, in a press release.  

Founded in 1997, the PA CDFI Network is a statewide collective of 17 mission-driven community development financial institutions (CDFI) that works to provide affordable loans and technical advisory services to companies unable to access financing through traditional channels.

Most of the services are directed toward small businesses serving lower-income neighborhoods. 

“Our community development financial institutions (CDFI) work arduously day in and day out to ensure that Pennsylvania small businesses, across all markets, receive adequate services while accessing capital to grow their businesses and the communities they serve,” said Fernandez. 

The Network seeks to build the capacity and expand the reach of its CDFI members, both individually and collectively, to serve all people and places across Pennsylvania by educating Pennsylvania residents, businesses and legislators on the purpose and function of CDFIs in promoting equitable community development. 

The PA CDFI Network really showed its commitment during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, distributing over $250 million among 14,530 small businesses across the Commonwealth’s 67 counties.

This year, they were able to secure an additional $24 million of ARPA funds to provide grants, loans, and technical assistance.

The Network’s signature programs include the Small Business Growth Program, which is designed to help small businesses grow through grants, loans, and technical assistance initiatives; the GRIT Fund, a program that provides resources to support the expansion of the CDFIs serving the Philadelphia region with the goal of increasing economic and financial opportunities for diverse business owners; and PA SSBCI-RLF, which works to protect and stabilize the Commonwealth’s smallest and most vulnerable businesses. 

The PA CDFI Network consists of the following members: Assets, Beech Capital Venture Corporation, Bridgeway Capital, Community First Fund, The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation, Entrepreneur Works Fund, Impact Loan Fund, MetroAction, Neighborhood Progress Fund, Neighborhood Community Development Fund, PIDC Community Capital, Reinvestment Fund, Rising Tide Community Loan Fund, The Progress Fund, United Bank of Philadelphia, VestedIn, and the Women’s Opportunities Resource Center. 

Since its launch, the PA CDFI Network has granted $259 million to 15,135 small businesses across all 67 Pennsylvania counties. 

To learn more about the PA CDFI Network, visit its new website at https://pacdfinetwork.org/.