NYS CDFIs - In the News

The President of NYS CDFI Coalition, Linda MacFarlane, serves as Executive Director of the Community Loan Fund of the Capital Region, certified as a CDFI in 2013. She recently wrote a commentary for the Albany Business Review, in which she said:

“During the last two months, we have heard from business owners who are scared that COVID-19 is going to be more than they can shoulder – and these are our innovators, our most industrious and engaged citizens … Business owners need additional training as they wade through guidelines and create new operation procedures. They will need hands-on-assistance as they pivot to serve brand new customers.”

Last week, Bloomberg Law posted an article titled “Community Development Lenders Push for Larger Role in Virus Aid.”

Archana Pokhrel, owner of Lenox Spa and Nails in Manhattan, doesn’t know when customers will return for the hands-on beauty treatments that stopped when the Covid-19 pandemic struck earlier this year.

NYS CDFI Coalition board member Yanki Tshering is the Executive Director of the Business Center for New Americans, which provided a $27,000 PPP loan to Ms. Pokhrel.

According to Tshering, “CDFIs are perfectly poised to work with micro and small businesses in low income neighborhoods and communities of color. We see our role as one which compliments the financial services provided by banks. But CDFIs in New York – and across the country – are in desperate need of an infusion of capital so we can continue to serve members of our community, like Archana. In fact, once our lending resources were tapped out, we had to secure a bridge loan from OFN [Opportunity Finance Network] to continue to provide PPP loans.”
 

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Help Us Help YOU!

The NYS CDFI Coalition urges Congress to approve $1 billion for the CDFI Fund, which provides grants and other public funding to finance our lending and operations. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic downtown illustrates the need for a significant increase in support for CDFIs, which received a $262 million appropriation in FY 2020.

Sign the petition here.

NYS Assembly Seeks Input from NYS Small Businesses on Fed Response to COVID-19

Testimony will be taken only upon approval by the Committee Chairs. Individuals who wish to present testimony on the federal response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on small businesses in New York State are requested to complete this reply form as soon as possible and email a copy of planned testimony. Individuals invited to participate will be notified within 48 hours of the hearing. All replies and draft testimony submissions must be e-mailed to:

Matthew Richmond, Analyst Assembly Committee on Small Business
Email: richmondm@nyassembly.gov
Phone: (518) 455-4928

Event Calendar 

Across New York State, people are eager to #BuildBackBetter. 

Federal agencies, CDFIs and local associations are hosting training sessions to help our small businesses do just that. 

The NYS CDFI Coalition has launched an event calendar with webinars, presentations and Q&A Sessions that may be of interest to you - as a lender - or your clients and borrowers. 

Please visit nyscdfi.org/events for upcoming programs as well as archived recordings of events that have already taken place. 

And please, share your events with us! Just send a link to info@nyscdfi.org for consideration.

We want to tell your PPP Story!

The NYS CDFI Coalition has been asked to develop a comprehensive list of PPP Lenders in New York State. 

Please visit nyscdfi.org/ppp-poll to fill out a brief survey. 

• Are you a PPP Lender?
• Would you like your institution listed on the NYS CDFI Website?
• May we share this list with other organizations or individuals?
• What regions or counties do you serve?
• Please list the languages your staff supports.
• Please give us a financial snapshot from April and May, including Loans, Deferments, Grants, or any other financial assistance you offered your clients. 

Ask Your NYS Senator to Support the NY Small Business Truth in Lending Act

The NYS CDFI Coalition is supporting legislation that will bring common-sense transparency standards to small business financing in the State of New York at a time when it’s needed most.

We're sending a letter to the members of the NYS Senate Banks Committee, and hope that if one of these lawmakers is from your service area, you'll do the same!

• Senator James Sanders, Jr., Chair
• Senator Thomas F. O'Mara, Ranking Member
• Senator George M. Borello
• Senator Neil D. Breslin
• Senator Daphne Jordan
• Senator Timothy M. Kennedy
• Senator Kevin S. Parker
• Senator Roxanne J. Persaud
• Senator Luis R. Sepúlveda
• Senator James Tedisco
• Senator Kevin Thomas

Here's an excerpt of the letter, posted in full here. 

To solve the small business financing transparency problem, Senator Thomas introduced S. 5470, the New York Small Business Truth in Lending Act. Importantly, he amended S. 5470 in March 2020 to clarify that APR or estimated APR must be disclosed for all small business financing products on the market. As a community development nonprofit working to help New York’s small businesses grow and thrive in normal economic times, and to survive in times of great uncertainty like we are facing now, we urge you to support S. 5470 in its current (March 2020) form.

Business owners have long deserved the transparency that universal disclosure standards would bring, including APR for all products, and will need this transparency even more as they seek to rebuild from the crisis. In this difficult time, we ask the Banks Committee to support the needs of New York’s business owners and not cave to the preferences of high-cost lenders who ask for special treatment in future amendments.

Click here to endorse the NYS Small Business Truth in Lending Act. 

Click here for coverage of our announcement from WHCU FM in Ithaca.