The Weekly Slice: Climate and CDFIs

Community Development

Community Development Finance Institutions Can Play a Key Role in Climate Finance

CDFIs—Community Development Finance Institutions, which include credit unions, nonprofit loan funds, banks, and venture capital firms—are laser-focused on providing economic opportunity and community development to the places they serve. Climate, some would say, simply isn’t core to the mission.?

But that’s not what you’ll hear from Harold Pettigrew, CEO of Opportunity Finance Network, which held its annual meeting in DC last month. “By 2028, 100% of CDFIs should become climate lenders,” he said, making a case that the marginalized communities that CDFIs serve are the most in need of last-mile green financing.?

In a recent post on the Institute’s website, Rossana Espinoza of the Business Ownership Initiative and Sarah Zetterli of the Aspen Partnership for an Inclusive Economy write about how federal dollars and private support create a unique opportunity for CDFIs to take the lead on green lending.

Read the post here.

Financial Stability

Coordinating with State and Federal Government to Improve Benefits Delivery

When family finances go sideways after job loss, illness, or other crises, public benefits such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are critical for maintaining financial stability. These and other programs provide the kind of protection that is necessary for successful wealth building—a fact our Financial Security Program has long championed, most recently in the publication The New Wealth Agenda.

But having public benefits is one thing; making sure people have access to them is quite another. Aspen FSP’s Sophia Scott and Tim Shaw shared some exciting news on that front in a recent website post.?

What’s new:

Aspen FSP, in coordination with the federal government’s Facing a Financial Shock interagency implementation team and a host of nonprofits, has launched working groups to improve access to public benefits.?

What’s happening:?

More than 90 state human services leaders and staff from 21 states, 15 federal staff, and more than 70 nonprofit and other ecosystem partners are identifying common challenges and co-designing solutions for public benefits delivery.??

What they’re focusing on first:

• Legal permissions related to texting
• Policies and data sharing requirements around cross-enrollment
• Working with IT vendors
• Hiring technical talent

What’s next for you:

Joining a working group, if you’re a state human services professional working to overcome obstacles to efficient benefits delivery. If you’re interested, please email Tim Shaw, Policy Director at Aspen FSP.

Read more here.

Community Solutions

Takeaways From the Fall 2023 Opportunity Youth Forum Convening

In early October, the Forum for Community Solutions welcomed hundreds of intergenerational leaders from the Opportunity Youth Forum to the Institute’s Aspen, Colorado campus. The OYF includes organizations in 40 urban, rural, and tribal communities who are working to improve education, employment, and wellbeing for opportunity youth—young adults aged 16-24 who are engaged in neither work nor education. The program’s Mike Swigert sifted through three days of engaging programming—and celebration of the network’s tenth anniversary—to find four big takeaways.?

The takeaways:

• Honor “Nothing about us without us,” and bring lived experience to cross-sector dialogue.
• To supercharge pathways to opportunity, tap into the power of purpose.?
• To improve financial wellbeing, infuse financial capability into existing programs and target public funds directly to young people.
• Center holistic wellbeing alongside traditional metrics of success.

Read more about the Convening here.