Finance...no, that is not an audio term...

Before we begin with this installment of The Summing Amp I must clear the air for all of my faithful pro audio followers. I am aware that there are some discrepancies between what this blog is supposed to be about and lately what we have been supplying to you. I have received some confused emails asking me, “What does this have to do with pro audio?” Well, I will first apologize to you for all of the confusion. I am required to write about specific topics for the completion of my Master’s degree and those topics are very rarely about pro audio. I do hope we only have one more of these unrelated topics to write about and then I should have total control over the content of “my” blog. After that it will be all and only pro audio related topics, thank you all for your continued support.
Ok, now that that has been cleared up we can talk about financing; yes that is what I said. There were ten websites I had to review and answer some questions about. On these websites financing is directed towards the Clinton administrations goal of providing financing options for distressed communities across our nation. These vehicles are called CDFI’s or Community Development Financial Institution Funds. In 2002, the CDFI’s moved from Philadelphia, PA to the nation’s capitol in order to maximize the organization’s visibility with federal policy makers. They also established independence as a nonprofit charitable organization and elected its first Board of Directors and officers. Some of these institutions represent over 100,000 loans directed toward low-income and low to moderate-income borrowers.
There are two more specific institutions, namely First Nations and the Oweesta Program that focus specifically on the Native Indian community. Regardless of what is offered to any other special interest group, for whom I believe should be on the same level as the rest of the nation, this particular group is the only one that deserves this special treatment, taking their and our history into consideration. All opinions aside, these institutions wish to boost local and global economy. Most of these loans and investments range from $100,000 to $3 million, in terms lasting from 3 to 10 years.
For those in my audience who are interested I will list the sites at the bottom of this blog. On these sites you can find the terms, mission statements and history of each site. You must fit one of their profiles to be considered for funding. To reiterate what I said in the beginning of this blog, only a few more and we are back to pro audio. I do appreciate the emails; even of they were not so complementary, trying to redirect me toward the title and topic of this blog. At least I know you are reading if you are complaining. Stay in touch with any more ideas, questions, or improvements you may have. Until next time…


Here are the sources that were supplied to me:

www.opportunityfinance.net
www.microenterpriseworks.org
www.cdfi.org
www.cfed.org
www.cdvca.org
www.ncif.org
www.natfed.org
www.eda.gov
www.firstnations.org
www.oweesta.org