A look inside...

The Bay Area Family of Funds made development of an apartment building in San Francisco possible by funding the environment clean-up of the site.

Welcome back to Community Developments Investments (CD I ), the OCC's on-line magazine focusing on national bank investments in community development activities.   This issue of CD I looks at two community development finance providers.   These investment intermediaries offer banks the ability to earn a double bottom line return - of both economic earnings for the investing bank and social gain for the communities they serve.  

Calvert Social Investment Foundation (CF) lends to local CD intermediaries across the country.   CF does the due diligence for its investors, can invest in any geography identified by investors, and provides a guaranteed return on the investment.   CF can target bank funds to specific geographies, organizations, and purposes while offering CD lending expertise, a diversified loan pool, and credit enhancements.

The Bay Area Family of Funds (BAFF) predominantly targets loans to the San Francisco Bay area, along with some other California locations.   BAFF has developed three funds that provide complementary financial programs and seek to earn market rates of return for community investments.

These different approaches each offer financial management, investment oversight, and community development investing expertise for investors, as well as access to scarce capital for local borrowers.   These entities are examples of investment opportunities that can control risk and provide a double bottom line of a return on investment and benefits to low-income communities that may be eligible for CRA credit.  

Other investment opportunities are described in "This Just In..."--the OCC's District Community Affairs Officer reports from the field.

We're glad you're visiting our e-zine and hope it continues to provide you with good information about community development investing.   If you would like to share your thoughts about this edition or any community development topics we might cover in the future, please drop me a note at the e-mail address below.

Barry Wides
Deputy Comptroller
Community Affairs