Local and Regional Foods are a small but vitally important part of agriculture sales in the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Local and Regional Food Systems Resource Guide is intended to help stakeholders navigate USDA...

The CDFA-NASDA Foundation Socially Disadvantaged Farmers & Ranchers Access to Capital Toolkit is a set of best practice resources designed to provide practical assistance to communities looking to invest in socially disadvantaged farmers and...

Funding Sources for Food-Related Businesses includes sources of local, regional, and national finance opportunities that may be available to producers, distributors, food hubs, and food-related businesses. Initially informed by a list of funding...

The Council of Development Finance Agencies (CDFA) is pleased to announce the CDFA Community Facilities Technical Assistance Program for Tribal Communities, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This program aims to to increase...

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development and U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) launched a joint resource guide to help community organizations access USDA and EDA resources to build strategies to boost economic...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is partnering with farmer-serving organizations, such as the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and its members to better reach and serve an increasingly diverse farmer and rancher constituency for...

The Federal Reserve has created this book to bring together community and economic development researchers, practitioners, philanthropists, and others to showcase the great work happening across this country and to outline a framework for conducting...

This is a USDA resource guide to help people in rural America start and grow businesses, create good-paying jobs in their communities and strengthen America’s economy. The guide features information on how rural entrepreneurs can use USDA and other...

U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that the Department is increasing the maximum loan amount to $400,000 under the Intermediary Relending Program. This change is in accordance with provisions in the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (2018...

Together, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families and the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development mission area have developed this Joint Resource Guide to further our commitment to...

USDA Rural Development (RD) developed this guide as a resource for rural communities seeking disaster resiliency and recovery assistance. The recent National Climate Assessment (NCA) identifies that more frequent and extreme weather and...

This Interactive Guide from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) provides an interactive, step-by-step approach for users to filter through more than 90 broadband related programs compiled from 12 federal agencies...

America’s rural workforce provides a vital foundation for the nation’s economy. Rural America supplies the nation’s food and energy resources, and the fiber necessary for goods and manufacturing. As USDA continues to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic...

This guide was created by the USDA in 2021 for community leaders and other local entities. The guide highlights four key assistance types necessary to building a stronger rural workforce: 1) Workforce development planning; 2) Infrastructure and...

The USDA Rural Development published a final rule outlining changes to the Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) on June 7, 2021. The program provides loans and grants to microenterprise development organizations to help them establish...

During this installment of the CDFA Rural Development Finance Webinar Series, learn about essential financing sources employed by rural communities to complete projects in today’s economy.

This report from Drexel University's Nowak Metro Finance Lab provides a guide to federal funding in the American Rescue Plan (ARP). The authors place a special emphasis on formula funds received by local anchors, competitive grants, and funds...

This table includes all the federal-to-local funding streams in the American Rescue Plan that reach cities and their residents. It does not include appropriations to Tribal Governments or Agency appropriations focused on program operations at the...

During the first installment of the CDFA Rural Development Finance Webinar Series, hear about a new technical assistance program from CDFA designed to support rural communities that have recently experienced a natural disaster. Experts discussed the...

The federal programs and tools available today to help generate social and economic development in rural communities serve as a reminder of active and broad federal involvement in the 20th century, and the possibilities for federal leadership to...

COVID-19 has highlighted the need for broadband and the gaps in broadband access. As part of our collaboration with Ice Miller, this video is designed to provide a review of the various approaches to expanding broadband access and how to assess...

CDFA's first publication of the CDFA Charter Schools Financing Initiative series, funded with support from the National Alliance For Public Charter Schools. This paper demonstrates how charter schools can access development finance tools and public...

This is the sixth and final white paper in a series examining the potential creation of a food systems asset class that supports the market growth of local and regional food systems. This paper presents three replicable strategies for restoring...

More than 30 USDA grant and loan programs provide support and assistance for local and urban food producers and producer groups. These grant and loan programs may be grouped into several broad program categories, including marketing and promotion;...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is committed to supporting robust regional food economies across the food chain. This graphic is designed to be a guide for which programs are best suited for different parts of the supply chain.

USDA’s Forest Service (FS), Rural Development (RD), and the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) have developed this resource guide for rural communities to identify resources that develop the recreation economy.

On February 13, 2019, the American Broadband Initiative was launched with the release of the Milestones Report, detailing the Administration’s strategy to drive changes across Federal Agencies to identify and remove barriers to broadband access and...

During this installment of the CDFA // BNY Mellon Development Finance Webcast Series, we explored financing programs that support healthcare development and showcase successful projects that have increased access to healthcare for rural communities.

Based on the input of our 500+ members, CDFA has developed a set of policy proposals that would allow state and local governments, through development finance agencies, to be immediate problem solvers that can help alleviate the extreme economic...

CALED knows from its work supporting economic development throughout California that infrastructure financing is a challenge for many rural communities. CALED collaborated with CDFA to develop this guidebook to meet the need for a resource to help...

The Community Facilities (CF) Direct Loan Program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities. This is an Applicant Guidance Book for the USDA's Community Facilities Direct Loan Program.

The Community Facilities (CF) Direct Loan Program provides affordable funding to develop essential community facilities. An essential community facility is defined as a facility that provides an essential service to the local community for the...

The White House Opportunity & Revitalization Council released a list of over 160 federal financing programs that give preference to projects located in Opportunity Zones.

Eugene Goldfarb from the University of Illinois at Chicago discusses Brownfields and Redevelopment in conjunction with Opportunity Zones.

This toolkit presents USDA programs and resources that support broadband e-Connectivity. It aims to help customers navigate the agencies within USDA to find the opportunity that best fulfills their connectivity needs. From grants and loans, to...

This report provides financing strategies for St. Luc's Cultural Immersion Center in Arnaudville, Louisiana. St. Luc's is a proposed hands-on immersive engagement center for Cajun, Creole, and French language and culture.

During this webinar, Lindsay Miller, Attorney with Ice Miller LLP, Heather Morgan, Executive Director of Project 17, Ryeon Corsi, Management and Program Analyst at USDA-RD, and Jeff Reiman, Vice President of The Broadband Group discussed creative...

B Vohryzek from the National Association of Development Companies provides an overview of the capital access tools offered by federal agencies at the 2019 CDFA Federal Policy Conference.

Joyce Allen from the U.S. Department of Agriculture provides an overview of the multi-and-single-family housing finance tools offered by the USDA at the 2019 CDFA Federal Policy Conference.

This March 2019 report from the Congressional Research Service outlines programs offered by the USDA's Rural Utilities Service that finance rural broadband. These include Community Connect Grants, Distance Learning & Telemedicine Grants, the...

This directory provides an overview of various sources of financing that may be available to food hubs and other food-related businesses. This directory is a partial listing of what may be available across the United States; some examples may not be...

Joseph Ben Israel with the U.S. Department of Agriculture presents on the Community Facilities Loan Program.

Charlie Bartsch explains the Federal financing tools available for Brownfield redevelopment in this presentation.

Clint Kaasa discusses how the USDA provides financing programs and strategies for Native communities in Arizona and considers how to leverage the available capital for even greater investment.

Barry Ryan discusses what The Rural Center is doing to support rural economic development in North Carolina.

Urban communities like Cleveland and Cincinnati are not the only places looking for help to fund economic development. Ohio is filled with rural communities and small towns that are also in need of financing strategies. These areas face unique...

Industry experts from around the state and from various federal agencies will discuss development finance programs and their potential to spur job creation and growth in the economic development industry.

Urban communities like Atlanta and Savannah are not the only places looking for help to fund economic development. Georgia is filled with rural communities and small towns that are also in need of financing strategies. These areas face unique...

The significant and transformative investments USDA has made in rural America since 2009 have strengthened our nation’s economy, our small towns and our rural communities. Today, two-thirds of rural counties have demonstrated job growth and...