On behalf of the many contributors who have participated in this research project, we are pleased to share the following assessment of Chicago’s small- and medium-business (SMB) ecosystem. Beginning in 2018, The Chicago Community Trust, JPMorgan Chase, and Polk Bros. Foundation partnered to sponsor a comprehensive market assessment on businesses owned by women and people of color, especially those […]

Within the last three years, Detroit’s approved mortgage rates have doubled thanks in a large part to the efforts of Detroit Home Mortgage (DHM),  which is helping to make homes affordable by eliminating the appraisal gap. Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF), to make homes affordable and accessible for people living and working in Detroit, initially spearheaded […]

Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF) was founded on a simple, but big idea: transform the community development finance system so all people have the opportunity to realize their full potential. Learn more about CRF’s mission and values.  Over the past 30 years, CRF has continually worked to meet this goal by developing innovative financial products, […]

National nonprofit Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF), is working to create big impact through community development lending. Neal St. Anthony of the StarTribune interviews Anissa Keyes, owner of Arubah Emotional Health Services, a small business lending customer of CRF about her journey as a small business owner and finding financing. St. Anthony quotes Jennifer Ericson, […]

Congratulations to Community Reinvestment Fund, USA’s (CRF) Jennifer Ericson for being named 2018’s Coleman Mission-Based SBA Lender of the Year! Jennifer works as CRF’s Regional Director of Business Development for the East and Midwest regions of the United States. Her responsibilities include relationship-building with partner organizations across the nation as well as thoughtfully and effectively […]

We are thrilled and proud to announce that CRF’s president and chief financial officer, Jennifer Anderson, has been selected as one of 2018’s Top Women in Finance by Finance & Commerce. A Career Dedicated to Inclusive Finance Throughout her career, Jennifer Anderson has always been focused on promoting financial inclusion. After the financial crisis, this passion […]

In the mid-1980s, Frank Altman and Warren Hanson had a revolutionary idea: create a secondary market for community development loans, which would help other community development organizations weather the uncertain funding atmosphere of the time. However, as Altman says, “if you don’t think big, it’s not going to happen.” Altman and Hanson launched CRF in […]

Clearinghouse Community Development Financial Institution (Clearinghouse CDFI)—a mission-based financial institution serving low- to moderate-income communities in California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, and Sovereign Nations—announced today that it has closed a $150 million bond from the United States Treasury Department’s CDFI Bond Guarantee Program (BGP) http://www.cdfifund.gov/bond issued through the Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF). Clearinghouse CDFI’s 2018 bond […]

In this article, Neal St. Anthony of Star Tribune interviews CRF customer Quinn Violin and Jennifer Ericson, Senior Loan Officer at CRF, about the challenges of financing for small business. St. Anthony writes, “Quinn also had to get over a financial wall. For years, he had tapped up to $120,000 in 18 to 25 percent […]