IIUSA Strategic Partner, Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA), Awarded Grant From Environmental Protection Agency

The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) was recently awarded a $997,572 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for brownfields training, research and technical assistance authorized under §104(k)(6) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980. The project period is from 2014 until 2019.

EPA’s Brownfields Program empowers states, communities, and other stakeholders to work together to prevent, assess, safely clean up, and sustainably reuse brownfields. A brownfield site is real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. EPA’s Brownfields Training, Research, and Technical Assistance grants provide funding to eligible organizations to provide training, research, and technical assistance to facilitate brownfields revitalization. These grants will also provide research and technical assistance to communities throughout the United States.

The CDFA Brownfields Technical Assistance program will provide support to brownfields communities, with a focus on brownfields revolving loan fund grantees, to help them understand the myriad of financing programs available to lift a revitalized brownfield site to an economically viable development and to provide technical assistance to brownfields-impacted communities undergoing economic restructuring, including communities affected by recent manufacturing plant closures and communities that were dependent on single industries. Through this program, CDFA will build on the organization’s 34-year leadership of the development finance industry, along with the experience of 52 private-sector strategic financing partners, to provide targeted and specialized assistance to brownfields communities. The technical assistance provided through this program will be offered in two forms. The first form will focus on Project Marketplaces, where communities will be invited to pitch their available sites and ideas for redevelopment to dedicated focus groups of CDFA partners comprised of bankers, lawyers, financial advisors, redevelopment consultants, developers, and project financiers. The second form will engage Project Response Teams of two to three financing experts concentrated on a specific site or industry in 36 target communities to provide individualized technical assistance.

IIUSA Strategic Partnership With CDFA

IIUSA and CDFA signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in June, 2012 that formalized a strategic partnership between the two organizations. The partnership is concentrated in EB-5 education and advocacy, with CDFA as the preferred development finance education provider to IIUSA members and IIUSA serving as CDFA’s source of EB-5 expertise. This partnership also extends to education opportunities on EB-5 rules, regulations, policies, and best practices to the economic development community across the country, and helps the EB-5 Regional Center Program be successful along the way.

Register for CDFA Summer School – Including Intro to EB-5 Finance Course – August 11-15 in Washington, D.C.

Next month, IIUSA will assist with the Intro to EB-5 Finance Course at CDFA’s Summer school being held at The Fairmont Washington, DC. The Intro EB-5 Finance Course is offered during CDFA Summer School, a week long series of courses presented by the CDFA Training Institute. This course qualifies for the CDFA Training Institute’s Development Finance Certified Professional (DFCP) Program. Participants may register for one, two, or three courses during CDFA Summer School. Complete three courses, and you will have fulfilled half of the requirements for the DFCP Program.

To Register, click here.