ACCION Receives $714,000 CDFI Fund Grant

NEWS RELEASE — December 10, 2020 — Local nonprofit lender Accion was awarded a $714,000 grant from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI). The CDFI Fund uses federal resources to invest in local lenders to build capacity to serve low-income people and communities that lack access to affordable financial products and services.

In total, the organization has won nearly $7 million in federal funding in the nine times it has received the award since 1998. The fund will be used for loan capital, which will be deployed in the four counties that Accion serves: Imperial, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego.

“We’re honored to receive this highly selective award, which will support our work in Southern California to strengthen communities through our loan program,” stated CEO Elizabeth Schott. “We look forward to using this funding to connect small business owners with access to resources, education and fairly priced, flexible capital.”

One other member of the Accion U.S. Network, the largest micro- and small business lending network in the United States, was also awarded the CDFI grant; Accion Serving the East Coast received $674,000 to support its work from Maine to Florida.

Of the 412 organizations that applied for the 2019 grant, Accion in Southern California is one of the 284 organizations that was awarded funding. The CDFI Fund awarded a total of $188.7 million to organizations in 45 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

Awardees represent a diverse group of credit unions, depository institutions, loan funds and venture capital funds. View the full list of awardees here. To learn more about the CDFI Fund and its programs, please visit the CDFI Fund’s website at www.cdfifund.gov.

About Accion Serving Southern California

Accion is a nonprofit, mission-based microlender dedicated to connecting entrepreneurs with the accessible financing and resources it takes to create or grow healthy businesses. By providing loans ranging from $300 to $75,000, it creates opportunity for increased income, economic stability and employment. In Southern California, Accion has provided nearly 4,000 loans totaling more than $30 million in its 25-year history. For more information on Accion small business loans, visit us.accion.org.