CSDC Receives 2011 Wachovia Wells Fargo NEXT Award for Opportunity Finance and a $25,000 grant for "demonstrated excellence in financing"

(Hanover, MD, November 18, 2011)  CSDC is pleased to announce that we won the 2011 Wachovia Wells Fargo NEXT Award for Opportunity Finance and a $25,000 grant for "demonstrated excellence in financing" at the Annual Opportunity Finance Network Conference on November 15th in Minneapolis, Minnesota!  Ember Reichgott Junge, the Vice-Chair of CSDC's Board of Directors, and Frank Riggs, CSDC's President and CEO, accepted the award on behalf of the entire CSDC organization.

From the left: TJ Forster, Tim Summers, Michelle Liberati,
Frank Riggs, Ember Reichgott Junge, Laura Fiemann

 

The Opportunity Finance Network (OFN) is the leading national membership organization of Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs).  The Wachovia Wells Fargo NEXT Awards for Opportunity Finance is the nation's largest and most prestigious awards program for the CDFI industry.  It was launched in 2007 by OFN in partnership with the Wachovia Wells Fargo Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation to recognize the nation's most visionary CDFIs for their innovative financing strategies and to assist those mission-driven organizations in achieving the "NEXT" level of success.  CSDC, the only CDFI focused exclusively on the financial and facility needs of charter schools nationwide, was specifically recognized for developing innovative and replicable models to provide charter school organizations with affordable capital in difficult economic times. 

Frank Riggs commented, "It's truly an honor to be recognized by our peers, especially as new members of OFN." In her remarks to the OFN Conference, CDFI Fund Director Donna Gambrell said, "I would like to salute the recipients of this year's Wachovia Wells Fargo NEXT Awards. Through your innovative work, you are developing new ways for CDFIs to make an impact and raising the bar for our entire industry. Thank you for your excellent work."  More information about the 2011 NEXT Awards winners is available at http://www.nextawards.org/celebration/11awardees.asp.

CSDC is committed to promoting innovation and excellence in education by financing and developing facilities for great public charter schools nationally. We help charter school entrepreneurs and leaders finance, build, expand and replicate their school models, turning educational visions into reality, with the goal of ultimately improving student achievement by increasing school choice and catalyzing competition within the American K-12 public education system.  For more information about CSDC, please contact Michelle Liberati at (443) 561-1280. For more about CSDC's program offerings and services, visit www.csdc.org.