SUBJECT: FINANCING MINORITY BUSINESSES IN CHALLENGING ECONOMIC TIMES
Federal News Service May 12, 2009 Tuesday
MS. GAMBRELL: Thank you for that kind introduction and it's an honor to be here today. I serve as the Director of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund, an agency of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, promoting economic development and opportunities for organizations, including minority businesses, across the country. The CDFI Fund's mission is very similar to the objectives of this Capital Access Forum - to expand the capacity of financial institutions to provide credit, capital, and financial services to underserved populations and economically distressed communities within the United States. As such, I welcome the opportunity to speak before you here today, and to discuss our shared vision, by showing you the ways in which we are committed to seeing minority-owned enterprises succeed.
Before I begin however, I would like share a brief story. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Detroit and Lansing, Michigan, for a two-day trip to view firsthand how the CDFI Fund's New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) Program is providing needed jobs and support to local businesses. It would be very difficult for me now to describe the economic conditions that I saw firsthand during my visit, but what stood out the most was the entrepreneurial spirit of the small business that was remarkably resilient.
