(Washington, D.C.) U.S. Senators Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, along
with U.S. Representatives Mike Ross and Marion Berry, announced $1,847,014
in grants to two Arkansas institutions that provide assistance to low-income,
rural areas of the state.
The funds for Arkansas are provided through the U.S. Treasury Department’s
Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. Southern
Development Bancorporation of Arkadelphia is being awarded $1.8 million
in equity, which will allow it to acquire additional branches to provide
housing, business and consumer lending in the Mississippi Delta region.
"This grant will be of great assistance in our ongoing work to help
rebuild the Delta. It has been made possible by a number of people,
including Senators Lincoln and Pryor, Congressmen Ross and Berry and the
U.S. Treasury Department. It will have a life-changing impact on
hundreds of Delta residents. For this we are most grateful," Phil
Baldwin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Southern Development
Bancorporation, said.
South Arkansas Community Development, also of Arkadelphia, serves distressed
rural areas of the state. The $47,014 grant the institution is receiving
will be used to develop a capitalization strategy and for loan product
development.
“It is important that we give our rural communities the resources they
need for economic development,” Lincoln said. “These two Arkansas
institutions are vital to the communities they serve and provide tremendous
assistance to the people who live there.”
“We must make every effort to provide rural Arkansas all the necessary
economic support they need,” Pryor said. “The CDFI Fund is a great start
in making that economic progress a reality.”
Ross said, “These grants go a long way in supporting the economically
disadvantaged rural communities of the Arkansas Delta. Providing
assistance to these communities is absolutely necessary for creating jobs.”
Berry said, “The Federal government can and should partner with low
income, distressed areas to help create economic growth. I am pleased
we were able to help secure funding through the CDFI Fund to help provide
housing, business, and consumer lending in parts of the state that need
it so badly.”
The grants are being awarded to 176 community-based organizations across
the country that provide critically needed financial products and services
to economically disadvantaged people and communities. The CDFI Fund’s
mission is to expand the capacity of these organizations so that all people
throughout the nation have access to affordable financial services. |