Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), along with community development practitioners and the general public, are invited to comment on a proposed FY 2016 CDFI Prize Competition, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) said in a news release Wednesday.
The prize competition rewards selected applications with monetary prizes for proposing innovative ideas and approaches to increasing CDFI investments and access to capital in underserved rural areas. The CDFI Fund expects to award no less than $1 million in FY 2016 appropriated funds through the prize competition authority granted by the America COMPETES Act.
The CDFI said "since the proposed prize competition is not a grant or contract program, the prize funds are to reward ideas and proposals that may build the capacity of CDFIs to expand their impact in underserved areas."
An overview and details of the proposed competition and the public feedback request is available in a Federal Register
Among the general topics the CDFI Fund seeks feedback from the public on include the potential effectiveness of the prize competition; the proposed eligibility, application requirements, and timeline for the competition; the proposed prize amounts for the competition; and the proposed evaluation criteria for the competition.
The CDFI Fund will host a conference call to provide an additional opportunity for public input on the proposed FY 2016 CDFI Prize Competition at 12 p.m. Eastern on May 19. Dial-in: 1-888-391-6803, Passcode: 3779041.
