New Public Sector Efforts to Facilitate the Flow of Resources into Underserved Communities [press release]
Today, the Interagency Community Investment Committee (ICIC) [1] is announcing a slate of new actions to strengthen how federal community investment programs serve communities across the country that have historically lacked access to resources and capital. In July of last year, Vice President Harris announced the ICIC, a coalition of agencies with a focus on aligning federal investments to support economic growth in historically underserved communities and address economic disparities. Since its creation, the ICIC has sought to improve the operational coordination of federal investment programs to maximize their collective impact for all Americans, including communities that have been historically underserved, such as communities of color, low-income communities, rural areas, and Tribal communities.
Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing that the ICIC agencies will take the following actions:
-- Adopt a ‘no wrong door’ policy to ensure that small businesses and entrepreneurs get the assistance and information most relevant to them. ICIC Agencies will collaborate across their nationwide network of field offices [2] to provide easy-to-use information guides and train staff on the full suite of federal capital products and technical assistance programs.
-- Support community finance market development through access to secondary markets. HUD, through Ginnie Mae (GNMA), Treasury’s CDFI Fund, and USDA will engage with Federal Home Loan Banks and community-based lenders to enable more borrowers to access affordable homeownership through providing access to global financial markets through HUD’s GNMA guarantee. Treasury will also conduct new outreach to private investors and CDFIs to better understand the metrics that could best support market development, secondary market access, and the value of CDFIs to the communities they serve.
-- Better connect rural communities to capital for growing small businesses, developing affordable housing, and workforce training. As part of the ICIC’s commitment to deliver capital to rural and Tribal communities, the ICIC will train field and Rural Partners Network (RPN) staff on how federal support can best support local efforts around affordable housing, small business development, and workforce development. RPN is a USDA-led, whole-of-government program to increase access to federal resources in rural and Tribal communities by supporting full-time federal staff who are partnering with 36 communities in 10 states and Puerto Rico. RPN is also developing rural economic development materials, such as webinars and guides, to help all rural communities identify and access federal funds on Rural.gov.
-- Identify opportunities to improve the alignment of federal investments to maximize community impact, including through expanding access to capital and affordable housing. The ICIC will ensure that new programs funded in the BIL and IRA are designed and deployed in such a way. As a starting point, Treasury, in partnership with HUD, will issue guidance to make it easier for Treasury’s State and Local Federal Relief Funds (SLFRF) program to be paired with HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Program (CDBG).
-- Launch a pilot to analyze how federal community and economic development investments flow into, and interact in, urban neighborhoods and rural communities. In partnership with local communities, this interagency pilot will inform how federal community investment flows can benefit recipient communities.
1 The ICIC members include the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Commerce (Commerce), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of the Treasury (Treasury), Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Small Business Administration (SBA)
2 Field offices and external resources partners include USDA’s State Rural Development Offices and Rural Partners Network Staff; Minority Business Development Agency Business Centers; DOT’s Small Business Transportation Resource Centers; SBA’s Field Offices; and Treasury’s CDFI Fund and State Small Business Credit Initiative.
ICIC 2023 Action Plan:
https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/ICIC-Action-Plan-2023.pdf
Press release:
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/06/27/fact-sheet-biden-harris-administration-announces-new-measures-to-promote-equitable-community-development/