DEVELOPMENT FINANCE INITIATIVE
A Note from the Director
The year 2020 was unlike any other, but it also marked an important milestone for the Development Finance Initiative. At the end of 2020, DFI turned 10 years old. DFI’s anniversary has provided me an occasion to reflect on the initiative and the essential role LGFCU played in its creation.
It was a beautiful spring morning in March 2010 when Maurice Smith, president of Local Government Federal Credit Union, attended a course I was conducting on community development. One of my topics was development finance, and I discussed the challenges and opportunities for local governments looking to accomplish their community economic development goals.
During lunch, Maurice asked me what local governments needed in order to take advantage of the opportunities I had described in class. I didn’t hesitate to answer: a center of excellence—development finance experts who could sit alongside local government officials and community stakeholders—that could provide expertise to communities as they worked to accomplish development goals. He asked me directly: “Tyler, why don’t you do it?” I stammered and offered some excuse, but it sure got my wheels turning.
Later that year, my colleagues and I in the School of Government’s Community Economic Development program proposed an initiative in the area of community development finance. It was exactly what Maurice had challenged me to do. By the end of 2010, LGFCU had committed to fund this “development finance initiative” as part of a larger gift to the School.
Following the announcement of LGFCU’s support, a few months were devoted to listening sessions with community stakeholders to determine the first strategic priority of the new initiative. In late 2011, the School hired DFI’s first full-time director and set off to support local governments with finance and development expertise to revitalize their historic downtowns based on feedback from those interviews. The initiative was wildly successful, and demand for assistance from the program quickly exceeded expectations.
Today DFI does much more than downtown revitalization, though it remains one of our core areas of expertise. DFI has increasingly been asked to apply its expertise to projects including affordable housing, neighborhood revitalization, industrial shell buildings, and small business loan funds. Our local government clients tell us that DFI is a valued partner because we understand finance tools and bridge the gap between the public sector and the private sector. Public-private partnerships will always have a better chance of success when the public sector understands the limitations of the private sector, and vice versa.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put an entirely new spin on the value of DFI. When small businesses were struggling and local governments weren’t sure how to help, DFI was there to help officials think through the business elements of emergency loan programs, offering a lifeline that kept businesses afloat while they awaited federal assistance. Thanks to LGFCU’s commitment a decade ago, DFI was available for public officials in a critical time of need.
2020 also reminded us of the critical importance of racial equity in our work. As an organization that often works in neighborhoods of color, DFI has long understood the importance of racial equity in development. 2020 led us to deepen our understanding. It meant re-examining our data sets and discovering new ones. It meant finding historic redlining maps in our most populous cities. It also meant uncovering evidence of racial inequities in smaller communities for which no redlining maps exist, but for which other historic planning documents depicted similar intent. It meant revising the way we teach graduate students to ensure they have the tools to understand why communities are facing blight and simultaneously feeling the pressure of gentrification, and how development finance tools can help address these concerns.
Keep reading and you will see the incredible numbers that show a slice of DFI’s impact during the last decade. We’ve seen 10 years of remarkable growth and accomplishments. I look forward to DFI’s next decade as the program continues to solve development finance challenges in North Carolina and beyond.
Thank you,
Tyler Mulligan
Robert W. Bradshaw Jr. Distinguished Professor of Public Law and Government
Director, Development Finance Initiative
Thanks to LGFCU’s commitment a decade ago, DFI has been available to public officials in a critical time of need.
—TYLER MULLIGAN
REDEFINING REVITALIZATION
In the historic neighborhood of West Southern Pines, DFI is working to empower community leadership, prioritize neighborhood needs, and redevelop key gateways. | READ MORE
A NEW KIND OF SERVICE
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck North Carolina, DFI applied its expertise to helping communities respond to the urgent financial needs of their small businesses. | READ MORE