The Bank Community Development Corporation: An Economic Development Tool for the Nineties

Abstract

With the shift in economic development responsibility away from the federal level in the 1980s, state and local governments have been called upon to join forces with the private sector to plan and finance local development. The Economic Development Administration (EDA) has attempted to help local public and private sector leaders assume this responsibility by sharing information on successful local innovations with substantial private sector involvement. In this article, an EDA project that tested the widespread utility of the Bank Community Development Corporation (Bank CDC) is described for the purpose of acquainting economic development practitioners with an innovative financing tool.