NEW ORLEANS — Liberty Financial Services announced that it has been awarded $40 million in New Markets Tax Credits by the CDFI Fund, an arm of the U.S. Treasury.
Liberty is a certified Community Development Finance Institution (CDFI) and Community Development Entity (CDE) with a multi-state service area focused on serving the needs of low-income communities. Liberty said it will use the award to provide small business and healthcare loan products in “highly disadvantaged neighborhoods, primarily in urban communities within the targeted service area.”
The NMTC Program is a federal economic development tool designed to promote development in America’s underserved and distressed communities. New Markets Tax Credits generate private equity when leveraged with other sources of capital to create flexible financing structures for projects in these areas. Liberty said that federal data shows that for every dollar of allocation provided under the NMTC program, an additional $8 of private investment is leveraged for the economic development of these communities.
“Liberty is honored by the CDFI Fund’s award,” said Travis McDonald, assistant vice president of Liberty Bank & Trust. “NMTCs are a crucially important resource, supporting our investments in small businesses that generate quality, accessible jobs paying living wages and community health centers with critical capital needs throughout our service area.”
In 2021, the NMTC program funded 277 projects nationwide using $3.2 billion of allocation and supporting $6.1 billion of total investment.
