Award to fund loan provisions for community development financial institutions and catalyze development   

Chicago - The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund announced today it is awarding $576,000 to ShoreBank for  serving Chicago’s neighborhoods that are among the hardest hit the hard by the economic crisis.   

ShoreBank was among 55 depository FDIC-insured financial institutions from across the U.S. and  Northeast Illinois to be recognized by the Bank Enterprise Award (BEA) Program for providing greater access to affordable credit, responsible mortgages and quality financial services in economically distressed communities in 2008 (www.2009BEAListofAwards.com).  ShoreBank will use the funds to increase its loan provisions and continue making loans to Chicago’s community development financial organizations to ensure low-cost financing to neighborhood developers and small-business owners that might otherwise have trouble obtaining market-rate loans.

An example is a $100,000 loan ShoreBank made to ACCION Chicago, a CDFI that provides credit and business services to help grow several small businesses without access to traditional sources of financing in low to moderate income communities.  A $12,000 ACCION loan to Anthony Waller,   owner of Catering Out The Box fueled the growth of his small start-up business from his home on the South Side to a spacious kitchen and office space in Hyde Park, now with a dozen employees, including the company’s recently hired, first-ever outside salesperson.

“The fund will provide badly needed relief from the surging demand for loans and investment capital that had all but disappeared or dried-up in many neighborhoods,” said Mary Fran Riley, Vice President, Resource Development, ACCION Chicago.  “With institutions like ShoreBank making more low-cost resources available to us, we’ll in turn be able to support new and existing businesses and create good paying jobs,” added Riley.

“The Bank Enterprise Award demonstrates ShoreBank’s ongoing commitment to serving Chicago’s urban neighborhoods whose residents that have been disproportionately impacted by the worst economic crisis in 80 years,” said Fran Grossman, EVP at ShoreBank. “The Award will augment the bank’s resources for lending to CDFIs, our partners in creating economic opportunities that prevent foreclosure, and growing sustainable businesses and good jobs,” added Grossman.     

About the BEA Program:

The BEA Program was enacted to provide an incentive to FDIC-insured banks and thrifts to increase either their level of support to certified community development financial institutions (CDFIs); or increase their provision of loans, investments and financial services in distressed communities, such as opening new savings accounts, providing mortgages or investing in local small businesses; or both.  CDFIs are specialized community-based financial institutions that are able to respond to gaps that exist in their local markets.

Through the BEA Program, the CDFI Fund recognizes the key role played by mainstream depository institutions -- banks and thrifts -- in promoting community revitalization through the provision of essential financial services, credit, and investment capital.  The BEA Program complements the community development activities of banks and thrifts by providing financial incentives to expand investments in CDFIs and to increase lending, investment, and service activities within economically distressed communities.  Providing monetary awards for increasing community development activities leverages the CDFI Fund's dollars and puts more capital to work in distressed communities throughout the nation.

For more information on the CDFI Fund and the BEA Program, please visit www.cdfifund.gov.

About ShoreBank:

ShoreBank is a subsidiary of ShoreBank Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, IL.  With more than $2 billion in assets, ShoreBank serves Chicago’s South and Far West Sides, the East Side of Detroit, and the Cleveland, OH community.  Since its inception in 1973, ShoreBank has invested more than $3.5 billion into these urban communities to finance the purchase and renovation of more than 55,000 units of affordable housing and the creation of more than 11,000 new jobs for local residents.