19 These studies and market data suggest that banks and other private organizations may become an increasingly significant source of competition for CDFIs. That is good news, not bad news. Indeed, the surest sign of a CDFI’s success is that private investors see viable investment opportunities in the neighborhoods in which the CDFI has been operating.
The continuing relevance of CDFIs Although in some sense the mission of CDFIs is to make themselves unnecessary, I expect that the knowledge and good will that they have accumulated in local communities will continue to make them relevant. For example, I mentioned earlier the loan pricing disadvantages faced by members of minority groups that have appeared in the HMDA data.