During 2015 the Florida Community Loan Fund celebrates 20 years of combining capital with expertise to help projects succeed. FCLF has helped – in big and small ways – more than 200 projects that directly serve low-income Floridians and their communities.

We have grown and matured as Florida’s statewide Community Development Financial Institution, and so has our ability to address a wider range of needs. From developing safe, affordable housing for both homeowners and renters, to providing better and more affordable health alternatives, to giving youth in our communities expanded educational opportunities… working with a wide range of community organizations, we have together addressed persistent challenges in Florida.

“FCLF is a growing, multi-faceted lending institution that is responsive to community needs; and accountable to its stakeholders, to its borrowers, and to the persons who benefit from their services.”

It is hard to imagine, from our modest beginning in 1995, the FCLF of today: a growing, multi-faceted lending institution responsive to community needs; accountable to its stakeholders, to its borrowers, and to the persons who benefit from their services. We have adapted to new economic realities, while growing stronger, in a world that is very different today than it was 20 years ago.

Our accomplishments during the 2014-2015 fiscal year position us for the future:

• Closed the highest number of loans in our history, deploying more than $21 million in financing to community development and New Markets Tax Credit projects.
• Reached total cumulative financing of $217 million into projects totaling $735 million; touching the lives of over 30,000 Floridians annually.
• Recognized at the highest level of the CDFI industry with the Wells Fargo NEXT Award for Opportunity Finance for our work in preserving affordable multifamily rental housing in Florida.
• Secured a $55 million New Markets Tax Credit allocation award, our largest to date; cementing our position as one of the most active NMTC organizations in the southeastern U.S.
• Continued legislative and advocacy outreach, meeting with state and national officials to emphasize the importance of the NMTC and other programs to Florida’s economy.
• Launched a new brand identity and logo to celebrate FCLF’s 20th year, continuing to execute communications goals outlined in our strategic plan.

“We have a responsibility to offer opportunity and dignity to every person and community in Florida … to meet our mission in innovative ways that will help communities prosper.”

There remains much work to be done to support low-income, low-wealth Floridians. In spite of our efforts and those of the dedicated organizations to whom we lend, the economy has left behind many people.

As Florida’s CDFI, we strive for a vision of prosperity for the Sunshine State. That vision, that opportunity and dignity exist for every person and every community in Florida, will drive us over the next 20 years to find innovative ways to deploy capital, to share our expertise, and to adapt to the ever evolving needs of the people we exist to serve and the communities in which they live. 

To our many supporters and borrowers we say thank you. Thank you for our first 20 years of providing expertise and capital to help projects succeed. Thank you for looking with us beyond 2015 and standing with us to continue to shape creative solutions for our state, our communities, our people.

Ignacio Esteban
Chief Executive Officer

Ed Timberlake
Board Chair