Once again, LIIF has been recognized for our extraordinary impact in underserved communities, the strength and stability of our financial strength, and our leadership and contributions to public policy, according to the CDFI evaluator Aeris in their biennial assessment. These top marks represent their highest possible rankings in both their Impact and Financial Strength categories and continues LIIF’s track record of excellence that mirrors Aeris’s previous assessment.
So what do these top rankings mean for LIIF? In short, they bolster our already-strong credentials as a top national CDFI with the resources, resilience and expertise to act as a trusted partner for clients, an innovative leader among industry peers and bedrock of stability for prospective new investors.
Our goal has always been to increase the flow of private capital into underserved communities, and to continue to attract new sources of capital to expand our reach and scale our impact. By consistently earning stellar ratings from Aeris– in combination with our strong financial condition, outstanding asset management performance and our ability to measure our impact — we hope to build on our success by earning the support of new investors drawn to LIIF’s demonstrated excellence.
In this rating period, which reflects Fiscal Year 2025, LIIF remained resolutely focused on our priority to drive capital and create communities of opportunity, equity and well-being with pioneering new initiatives and sustained outreach and community engagement. In many ways this period also reflected a very challenging operating environment, given concerns about the levels of federal support for our work, the potential changes to the Community Reinvestment Act, which fuels bank investment in CDFI’s, as well as general dislocation in the markets due to increasing interest rates and development challenges.
Research shows that the two highest costs for American families are housing and child care. This is especially true for our lowest-income families, who are often rent burdened and do not have access to affordable child care. That is why LIIF has made strategic investments in the preservation and production of affordable housing, while also bolstering the early care and education (ECE) ecosystem via grants.
LIIF’s primary focus in this period was on remaining a steady source of capital and support for our clients, who faced the broader economic challenges. Not only did we continue to deploy new capital to projects, we lived up to our reputation as a patient lender, extending our loans to reflect evolving needs and supporting clients with flexible, expert technical assistance at every step of the way. We developed new products aimed at providing critically-needed working capital for our clients, such as a bridge loan for developers managing LIHTC projects, and a partnership to provide working capital loans for child care operators. These projects are just a few examples of LIIF striving to meet clients where they are and providing for their shifting operational needs in real time.
Moreover, we managed to do all this while still growing our assets and managing our operating risk and our portfolio risk, resulting in very low delinquency and loss rates that demonstrate LIIF’s robust risk management program. This included the launch of a program aimed at bolstering our cyber security, another challenge that LIIF and other CDFI’s have increasingly had to confront.
As proud as we are of these top rankings, we’re even prouder of the work and impact behind them. LIIF is unwavering in our commitment to our mission, and we hope to use this recognition to drive even more capital to underserved areas and populations.