Yesterday, President Trump issued his latest Executive Order, titled “Continuing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy,” that targets the elimination or reduction in operational scope of seven federal agencies and offices, including the CDFI Fund.
The order, which “continues the reduction in the elements of the Federal bureaucracy that the President has determined are unnecessary,” mandates that the “the non-statutory components and functions of the following governmental entities shall be eliminated to the maximum extent consistent with applicable law, and such entities shall reduce the performance of their statutory functions and associated personnel to the minimum presence and function required by law.” It directs the head of the CDFI Fund and the other affected entities to submit within seven days “a report to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget confirming full compliance with this order and explaining which components or functions of the governmental entity, if any, are statutorily required and to what extent.”
The United States Congress created the CDFI Fund in 1994 with broad bipartisan support through the Riegle Community Development Banking and Financial Institutions Act “to promote economic revitalization and community development through an investment and assistance program for community development financial institutions.” The CDFI Fund’s Native Initiatives – which includes the Native American CDFI Assistance (NACA) Program – was then established in 2001 to “generate economic opportunity for Native Communities by supporting the creation and expansion of Native CDFIs, which in turn help to create jobs, establish or improve affordable housing, and provide appropriate financial services and counseling within their communities.”
The Native CDFI Network (NCN) calls on all Native CDFIs and their partners to express their concern about the potential impacts of this executive order on the NACA Program and the CDFI Fund’s ability to otherwise support Native CDFIs by immediately contacting their Congressional delegations:
U.S. Senate: Contacting U.S. Senators
U.S. House of Representatives: Find Your Representative (locate by ZIP code)
U.S. House of Representatives: Directory by State, District, Last Name
NCN also will be drafting a sign-on letter for Native CDFIs and their partners to join by early next week, and it will also share out a template letter that individual organizations can use.
To read the executive order, please click here.