Pravina Raghava, director, U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, left, and Martin Eakes, Martin Eakes, CEO of Self-Help Credit Union and the Center for Responsible Lending | Cdfifund.gov / Center for Responsible Lending YouTube
Pravina Raghava, director, U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, left, and Martin Eakes, Martin Eakes, CEO of Self-Help Credit Union and the Center for Responsible Lending | Cdfifund.gov / Center for Responsible Lending YouTube
Durham Reporter has submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Department of the Treasury seeking information on the “financial intermediaries” that have received “equity investments” from Durham-based Self-Help Ventures Fund between 2004 and 2020.
Self-Help Ventures Fund is part of a network of connected non-profit organizations run by Durham-based credit union CEO Martin Eakes that has received more than a half-billion in U.S. Treasury funds.
That’s according to an analysis of reports from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) previously reported by Durham Reporter.
Collectively, Eakes’ non-profits received $502,198,329 through the various awards programs run by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund).
The fund was founded through an Act of Congress in 1994 to generate “economic growth and opportunity in some of our nation's most distressed communities.”
Eakes’ non-profits include three credit unions, all under the "Self-Help” name, as well as a non-profit investment loan fund called Self-Help Ventures Fund.
Self-Help Ventures Fund alone received $277,989,503 in federal awards for 107 separate projects through just one of the CDFI programs, called the New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) program, between 2004 and 2020.
“The NMTC Program attracts private capital into low-income communities by permitting individual and corporate investors to receive a tax credit against their federal income tax in exchange for making equity investments in specialized financial intermediaries called Community Development Entities (CDEs),” according to the CDFI website. “The credit totals 39% of the original investment amount and is claimed over a period of seven years.”
The FOIA request by Durham Reporter asked for a listing of the financial intermediaries receiving equity investments from Self-Help Ventures Fund as part of the NMTC program, and the amounts received by each intermediary.
Also requested was the amount, in dollars of tax credits received by Self-Help Ventures Fund through the NMTC program and the return-on-investment received by Self-Help from its “equity investments” made in the “financial intermediaries.”
The FOIA request was made April 8, 2024 and acknowledged as received by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
Federal CDFI Fund Awards to Martin Eakes-Owned Businesses, 1996 to 2020
Source: CDFI Fund's Searchable Award Database
Key:
- CDFI-ERP: Equitable Recovery Program
- CDFI-FA: Financial Assistance program
- CDFI-RRP: Rapid Response Program
- CDFI-TA: Technical Assistance program
- CMF: Capital Magnet Fund
- HFFI-FA: Healthy Food Financing Initiative-Financial Assistance
- NMTC: New Markets Tax Credit
Alerts Sign-up