Building the Evidence Base for Community Development Finance: The Third Annual CDFI Research Symposium Comes to New Orleans 

On October 20, researchers, practitioners, funders and investors, policymakers, and other leaders in community development finance will gather in New Orleans for the third annual CDFI Research Symposium, held in conjunction with Opportunity Finance Network’s OFN42. 

The symposium is cohosted by the CDFI Research Consortium at the Center for Impact Finance (CIF) at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Opportunity Finance Network (OFN). It brings together researchers and people who use that research to strengthen the evidence base for the CDFI industry. 

This year’s gathering comes at an important moment. CDFIs have grown substantially and are expected to address challenges ranging from the lack of affordable housing and uneven credit access among small businesses to natural disasters that require recovery and community resilience. At the same time, the field faces significant questions about federal policy and funding, capitalization, organizational sustainability, and how best to measure and communicate CDFI outcomes. 

These developments make rigorous, independent, and actionable research more important than ever. 

Lessons from the 2025 Symposium 

Last year’s CDFI Research Symposium brought together 85 researchers, practitioners, funders, and industry leaders in Washington, DC. The research illustrated the breadth of questions facing the field—from CDFI growth and leadership to technical assistance, immigrant financial inclusion, and place-based impact. Sessions focused on each of these topics:  

CDFI Growth and Leadership 

• Tilan Tang studied how CDFI Fund awards affect institutional growth and lending behavior. Tang’s study found, among other things, that credit unions have accounted for much of the industry’s growth since 2011.  

• Dan Quinn’s examination of Michigan’s CDFI ecosystem highlighted both substantial collaboration and significant capacity constraints.  

• Jorge González-Hermoso identified disparities in CDFI service and leadership in Latino communities, including comparatively low CDFI lending in majority-Latino neighborhoods. 

Technical Assistance and Relationship-Based Lending 

• Emily Sipfle’s research on technical assistance for women small business borrowers found that the field still lacks a common definition of technical assistance, making it difficult to establish which approaches work best.  

• Jessica Santos’ research on immigrant financial inclusion highlighted the importance of relationship-based coaching, multilingual services, representative staff, and creating environments in which clients can engage with financial institutions without shame or pressure. 

Place-Based Impact 

• Doug Warrender’s research comparing resident-owned and investor-owned manufactured housing communities in New Hampshire found lot-rent increases were substantially slower in resident-owned communities.  

• Sean Zielenbach’s seven-year evaluation of the Kensington Lending Partnership in Philadelphia found meaningful business- and project-level results but mixed neighborhood-level outcomes—illustrating both the contribution CDFIs can make and the limits of expecting financing alone to overcome structural challenges. 

One overarching lesson emerged from the diverse studies presented at the 2025 symposium: The field needs to move beyond measuring outputs toward understanding outcomes. Knowing how many loans were made or how many dollars were deployed is important, but so is understanding what happens to borrowers, businesses, and communities over time. 

What emerged throughout last year’s symposium is that more progress must be made to support the field. Progress requires appropriate data sources, definitions, designs, and investments so research is credible enough to identify limitations as well as successes. The goal should not simply be to produce more research, but also to activate the research we already have. 

Looking Ahead to New Orleans 

The 2026 Symposium will build directly on the lessons from prior symposia while bringing new research and voices into the conversation. The agenda will include:  

• Breakfast Networking Café: The day will begin with participants informally discussing three questions: What research question are you trying to answer? What data do you wish existed? What policy issue needs stronger evidence?  

• Keynote Address: Eric Belsky will deliver the keynote address. Belsky is the former director of the Division of Consumer and Community Affairs at the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, a nonresident fellow at the Urban Institute, and a visiting scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His keynote will frame a central question for the symposium: How can the field ensure that credible research informs real decisions about CDFI practice, funding, and public policy? 

• Housing Affordability, Supply, and Community Development Finance Session: This research session will address questions like: Where are the financing gaps that prevent housing production? Where can CDFIs add value? And how can mission-driven financial institutions support innovative approaches to expanding housing supply while managing risk and maintaining affordability? 

• Funders’ and Practitioners’ Perspectives Panels: Funders will discuss what evidence could influence investment, which metrics matter most, and where important knowledge gaps remain. Practitioners will address what evidence influences CDFI practice and how researchers can build stronger partnerships with CDFIs. 

• CDFIs and Federal Programs Session: What happens when public investment enters a CDFI’s balance sheet? Does it increase lending or enable institutions to reach markets they otherwise could not serve? Does it strengthen organizational capacity? And how should policymakers evaluate the return on federal investment in community finance? 

• Evaluating CDFI Outcomes Session: Why is there no single measure of “CDFI impact”? Different interventions—from homeownership programs to small business lending and disaster recovery—have different goals, theories of change, and timelines. How do we develop and conduct rigorous evaluations that acknowledge these differences? 

This will be a day filled with sharing research findings, exchanging ideas, networking, and deliberating on how research can best inform practice and policy and drive community impact. 

Strengthening Our Learning Community 

Ultimately, the CDFI Research Symposium is more than individual research papers. It is about building a learning infrastructure for community development finance. 

Researchers need access to practitioners, data, and questions emerging from the field. Practitioners need credible research to make better decisions. Funders need evidence to determine where their resources can have the greatest effect. Policymakers need rigorous analysis to design effective programs and target public resources. 

The symposium is intended to bring those communities together. 

Join us for the third annual CDFI Research Symposium on October 20 in New Orleans! 

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Michael Swack is senior advisor for the Center for Impact Finance at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy. Adrienne Smith is senior vice president of research at Opportunity Finance Network. 

Lead image: Aerial view of downtown New Orleans skyline. Credit: Kruck20 via iStock/Getty Images Plus.