Oakland's Community Bank of the Bay Wins $500,000 Award for Making Loans to Underserved Business Communities.OAKLAND, Calif. -- Community Bank of the Bay (OTCBB OTCBB See OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB). :CBYAA) has been notified it will receive a $500,000 cash award from the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Treasury Department under the Bank Enterprise Award Program. The award recognizes the bank's lending program in all underserved communities. Most of them have been in Oakland. The BEA BEA - Basic programming Environment for interactive-graphical Applications, from Siemens-Nixdorf. Program was created by the U.S. Treasury U.S. Treasury Created in 1798, the United States Department of the Treasury is the government (Cabinet) department responsible for issuing all Treasury bonds, notes and bills. Some of the government branches operating under the U.S. Treasury umbrella include the IRS, U.S. Department's Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI CDFI Community Development Financial Institutions ) Fund to encourage financial institutions to "provide critically needed financial products and services to economically disadvantaged people and communities." Community Bank is one of 47 institutions nationwide that will share $12 million in grants, and one of just 18 that received the maximum $500,000 allowed. It is one of only three California banks to receive awards, and the only California bank to receive the maximum amount. A separate news release issued by the CDFI Fund said Community Bank was one of 33 institutions recognized for providing a total of $380 million in loans or investments in distressed communities nationwide. Announcing the awards, Arthur A. Garcia, Director of the CDFI Fund, said, "By encouraging the development of partnerships between banks and CDFI's, and by providing residents of low-income communities needed financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. , we are achieving the Fund's vision of an America in which all people have adequate access to affordable credit, capital and financial services." CDFI uses the BEA awards to recognize the key role played by institutions like Community Bank "in promoting community revitalization re·vi·tal·ize tr.v. re·vi·tal·ized, re·vi·tal·iz·ing, re·vi·tal·iz·es To impart new life or vigor to: plans to revitalize inner-city neighborhoods; tried to revitalize a flagging economy. through the provision of essential financial services, credit, and investment capital," Garcia said. Much of the money used to fund these loans comes from the Oakland 1st Fund, an innovative approach created by Community Bank of the Bay. All funds deposited into the Oakland 1st Fund are guaranteed to be used solely in Oakland. This has grown well beyond expectations and now tops $23 million. The announcement of the award was the second very significant piece of good news Community Bank received last week. Tuesday it was notified by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), an independent U.S. federal executive agency designed to promote public confidence in banks and to provide insurance coverage for bank deposits up to $100,000. that because of the bank's exemplary performance, all restrictions that had previously been imposed on the bank as it tried to work its way out of past problems have now been lifted. "This is turning out to be a pretty darn good week," Garrett said. For more information about Community Bank of the Bay, please visit its Web site at www.CommunityBankBay.com For information about this year's BEA awards, see http://www.cdfifund.gov/news_events/press.asp |
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