Concord, NH  - One of the nation’s largest and most prestigious awards programs in the financial services industry today announced that New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (Community Loan Fund) is one of four U.S. community development financial institutions (CDFIs) named as finalists for $8.25 million to scale up their success. This exemplary lender is in the running for the highly competitive 2008 Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance, to be announced on December 10, 2008, in Albuquerque, NM.

The Community Loan Fund is a statewide nonprofit organization that connects people and families with the loans, training, and advice that allow them to buy and keep homes, have secure jobs and become economically stable. The Community Loan Fund stands to receive an award of $5.5 million.

This year’s finalists were chosen for their proven track records of profitable, responsible lending practices, and their bold, promising strategies for underserved markets.

“The Community Loan Fund has blazed an unlikely trail on solid ground against expectations,” said Mark Pinsky, CEO of the Philadelphia-based Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), the leading national network of high-performance CDFIs. 

Community Loan Fund President Juliana Eades said: “We are delighted to be a finalist for the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance. This recognition validates our quarter-century of hard work transforming the manufactured housing sector and bringing stability and equity to thousands of working families and retirees. This Award would allow us to scale deeper and continue to develop solutions in New Hampshire, while our recent launch of ROC USA™ takes our innovations to national scale.”

The 2008 finalists are: Community First Fund, Lancaster, PA; Homewise, Inc., Santa Fe, NM; IFF, Chicago, IL; and New Hampshire Community Loan Fund, Concord, NH. The Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance in partnership with The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation is run and funded through OFN by   The Wachovia Foundation and The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. The awards recognize excellence among financial institutions that responsibly serve low-income and low-wealth people and communities and were established to spotlight how CDFIs increasingly benefit our nation’s economy. CDFIs are market-based, private sector financial intermediaries that create opportunities for low-wealth and low-income individuals and institutions and spark growth in hard-toserve markets across the nation.

In the $5.5 million category is the Concord-based New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (Community Loan Fund), which lends to New Hampshire’s low-and moderate-income individuals and families, and to the non-profit organizations that serve them, to promote self-sufficiency and stability, and Chicago-based IFF, the Midwest’s largest nonprofit CDFI, providing financial and real estate solutions to nonprofits in Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

The awards committee chose the Community Loan Fund because of its pioneering work in converting manufactured housing communities to resident ownership, and in bringing that strategy to national scale through the launch of ROC USA™. In the $2.75 million category are the Lancaster, PA-based Community First Fund, central Pennsylvania’s premiere community development financial organization and Santa Fe, NM-based Homewise, Inc., a leading CDFI that helps working New Mexicans become successful homeowners.

“This year’s awardees will define what it means to be NEXT,” said Mike Rizer, executive vice president for the Wachovia Foundation. “We're proud to continue our long-standing support for the Opportunity Finance industry with our investment in the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance, which will help innovative, up-and-coming CDFIs grow and create even more economic opportunity for families and communities.”

The awardees of the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance will be announced on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at a ceremony attended by more than 700 of their peers in Albuquerque, NM during OFN’s Annual Conference. The conference will feature Good to Great author Jim Collins as the keynote speaker. The complete listing of sessions, presenters, Conference events, and information on registering for the conference are available online at www.opportunityfinance.net/conference.

Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), the leading national network of more than 160 financial institutions, creates growth that is good for communities, investors, individuals, and the economy. To date, the opportunity finance industry has financed more than $25 billion in underserved markets in all 50 states, yielding more than 200,000 jobs, 500,000 housing units, and 5,000 community facility projects.

“The Opportunity Finance industry’s track record gives us confidence and hope, even at this time of serious economic challenges,” added Debra Schwartz, director of programrelated investments for the MacArthur Foundation. “We hope that these game-changing awards will educate all who participate in our country’s financial and credit markets about the pivotal role of CDFIs and the valuable contributions they’re poised to make in the years ahead.”


ABOUT NEW HAMPSHIRE COMMUNITY LOAN FUND
The New Hampshire Community Loan Fund (Community Loan Fund) was selected for its proven strategy of resident ownership for manufactured home communities and its initiation of ROC USA to serve national manufactured home markets through innovative partnerships. The Concord-based Community Loan Fund works to connect low- and moderate-income people and families with the loans, training and advice that allow them to buy and keep homes, have secure jobs and become economically stable. More details available at: www.theloanfund.org.

ABOUT THE AWARDS
The Wachovia Foundation made a $16.75 million grant and the MacArthur Foundation made a $25 million low-cost, long-term loan to Opportunity Finance Network to fund the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance, inaugurated in 2007. Each year from 2007 through 2011, the Wachovia NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance will include:

• A $5.5 million program-related investment (low-cost loan) and unrestricted grant award to an outstanding, high-potential CDFI with more than $50 million in assets dedicated to lending or investing;
• A $2.75 million program-related investment and unrestricted grant award to an outstanding, high-potential CDFI with $10-$50 million in assets dedicated to investing, and 
• Four $25,000 unrestricted grant awards to CDFIs of any size that have demonstrated excellence in Innovation, Advocacy, Financing, and Community Impact.
  

The two awardees for the multi-million dollar prizes will be CDFIs with a history of outstanding accomplishment, a bold and compelling vision, extraordinary future potential for growth, innovation and impact, and a high degree of readiness to use and leverage a large, flexible investment successfully.

ABOUT THE GROUPS BEHIND THE AWARDS
Opportunity Finance Network is the leading network of private financial intermediaries that delivers both sound financial returns and real opportunities for low-wealth people and communities in the U.S. Opportunity Finance Network Members originated more than $12.5 billion in financing in non-conforming urban, rural, and native communities through 2006. This generated or maintained 175,710 jobs; 39,583 businesses; 533,394 housing units; and 5,858 community facility projects. More information is available at: www.opportunityfinance.net.

The Wachovia Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to eligible 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations in two primary focus areas (education and community development, with an expanded focus on projects that promote environmental initiatives) and two secondary areas (health and human services, and arts and culture). The Foundation’s mission is to build strong and vibrant communities, improve the quality of life and make a positive difference. More information is available at: www.wachovia.com/wachoviafoundation.

The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. MacArthur has been a leading supporter of the Opportunity Finance field since the early 1980s, investing almost nearly $250 million in approximately 100 groups nationwide. More information is available at: www.macfound.org