About Us
The seed of the idea that became CDFI Friendly America was planted in 2010 during the Great Recession: CDFIs realized there were thousands of communities they couldn’t reach and people in those communities had heard about CDFIs but didn’t know how to find one.
CFA’s President, Mark Pinsky, knows that every problem is an opportunity. In 2017, he worked with Bloomington, Indiana Mayor, John Hamilton, and community foundation President, Tina Peterson, to create the CDFI Friendly America process. Later, in 2018-2019, he and CFA’s late Managing Partner, Adina Abramowitz, developed CDFI Friendly South Bend (IN).
Between 2021 and 2023, CDFI Friendly organizations were established in Fort Worth, TX, Evansville, IN, and Tulsa, OK. We have also completed assessments for Jacksonville, FL, and Las Vegas, NV; we are now working with community leaders to decide how and when to continue with the CDFI Friendly process in these communities.
CDFI Friendly America has grown into a team of more than a dozen CDFI specialists. CDFI Friendly America expects to announce more CDFI Friendly sites and new approaches in 2024. By 2030, CFA projects there could be 25 or more CDFI Friendly communities working with CDFIs to bring vital capital to underfinanced people and places that would otherwise be outside the reach of the CDFI industry.
Meet the Team
Our small, but mighty team of professionals includes an impressive cross-section of talent and experience, with most team members having 20-30 years of CDFI expertise.
Donna Fabiani
Senior Consultant
Donna Fabiani, Senior Consultant, has more than 30 years of experience working in the CDFI industry. Her career includes starting and managing a microenterprise CDFI; leading research initiatives and underwriting CDFIs at the U.S. Treasury Department’s CDFI Fund; and designing and delivering capacity-building programs at Opportunity Finance Network. Donna’s consulting practice focuses on expanding CDFI impact by strengthening the capacity of individual CDFIs, educating others about CDFIs, and promoting investment in CDFIs.
Bri Rose
Sr. Manager, Communications & Operations
Bri Rose graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia in 2019 and has worked as a freelance and privately contracted graphic designer since 2017. In a happy twist of fate, Bri was referred to CDFI Friendly America in November 2021 to work part-time on communications and administrative duties. In the following year, CDFI Friendly America continued to expand its reach and grow as a company, which allowed Bri to join the team full-time in 2022. Bri is able to use her experience in design, project management, technology, and client relations to support with all of the ongoing and new projects at CFA. Bri manages design, marketing, social media, technology, and internal operations.
LANCE LOETHEN
Senior Consultant
Lance Loethen, Senior Consultant, has nearly 20 years of experience managing a wide range of community development research initiatives with a particular focus on financial and loan portfolio performance, community impact, geographic coverage, and growth trends among community development financial institutions (CDFIs). Prior to CDFI Friendly America, Mr. Loethen spent four years underwriting financial products for General Electric Capital, five years as Vice President, Research, for Opportunity Finance Network and 12 years as a Research Associate at Reinvestment Fund where he developed geospatial research tools that assess the social and economic impacts of CDFI investments, including the Limited Supermarket Access (LSA) tool.
Celina PeÑa
Senior Consultant
Celina’s experience spans 20+ years in business operations and non-profit leadership. Her expertise includes operations and management, communications, strategic planning, capacity building, revenue generation (including fundraising and sales), communications and marketing, community development lending, and business development, along with process improvement. Celina is a former executive of a non-profit community asset builder in the U.S. She raised $7 million+ annually and supported over 4,000 clients with business education, and deployed $25+ million in small business loans and over $60 million in small business COVID relief grants. She is an Aspen Institute Fellow in Microenterprise, an Annie E. Casey Fellow, and holds a Six Sigma Green Belt from UTSA along with a master’s degree in political science. She served as Board Secretary for Credit Builder Alliance, Co-Chair for the City of San Antonio and Bexar County Complete Count Census 2020, and Board Chair of the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center Board, and the San Antonio Housing Trust. She recently joined the board of the Mexican American Civil Rights Institute (MACRI).
Mark Pinsky
President
Mark A. Pinsky developed the CDFI Friendly model and is Founding Partner of CDFI Friendly America. He is a noted strategist, author, and advisor on public purpose finance. In 2019, he co-authored Organized Money (The New Press with Keith Mestrich). He is a leader in the CDFI industry. Starting in 1992, he played key roles in transformational industry innovations ranging from the CDFI Fund to the Equity Equivalent investment product to the AERIS Ratings System.
Laura Schwingel
Senior Consultant
Laura Schwingel, Senior Consultant with CDFI Friendly America, brings more than 25 years of experience working with non-profit community development organizations that work with economically marginalized people and communities, including an 8-year stint at the Opportunity Finance Network. Her expertise includes strategic planning, organizational assessment, and fundraising strategy. She has served on several non-profit boards and city-wide committees: Dignity Housing (Board Chair), GreenWoods Charter School (Executive Committee), and the Philadelphia Reentry Coalition Policy Committee.
Marva Williams
Senior Consultant
Marva E. Williams, Senior Consultant, has a 30-year history in applied research and the practice of community development. Through her work with Economic Development for the Community Development and Policy Studies division of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, as Senior Program Officer at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) of Chicago, and Senior Vice President of the Woodstock Institute, she has worked to help financial institutions, community-based organizations, government entities and the public understand and address financial services issues that affect low- and moderate-income people and geographic regions and improve state and federal policies. Marva has a PhD in urban planning and public policy from Rutgers University’s Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy and a Master of Urban and regional planning from the University of Pittsburgh.
Other CDFI Friendly America Employees:
Michelle Anderson
Seasoned executive assistant with over 15 years of experience. Michelle graduated from Northeastern University with a Bachelor of Science and helps the CFA team manage finances and scheduling.
Georgia Shwaiko
Current Drexel University student majoring in Global Studies with a concentration in Global Health and Sustainability, as well as minors in Spanish, Environmental Public Health, and Climate Change. As part of Georgia’s 6-month Co-op, she will be assisting with industry-related research, administrative work, and marketing and communications, including social media.
In Loving Memory of Adina Abramowitz
Our beloved managing partner, Adina Abramowitz, passed away on December 13th, 2023. Adina was a friend and mentor to so many and her dedication to justice in her life and work will continue to impact thousands.
To view a collection of photos, memories, and quotes from the virtual memorial ‘The CDFI Industry Remembers Adina Abramowitz, click here.
Our Core Values
Equity: In all of our work we seek to increase equity and reduce the racial wealth gap.
Honor: We have deep respect for people who have come before us, our partners and clients, and communities that live without equitable access to capital.
Inclusion: We will continuously strive to increase economic opportunities for historically underserved people and places so that they can participate fully and freely in social, economic, and political life.
Excellence: The communities and people we serve deserve excellence, and we strive to provide it in everything we do.
Honesty: We face and present hard truths with brutal honesty so that these communities can prevail.
Our Core Purpose
Our core purpose—the reason CDFI Friendly America exists—is to unlock opportunities for people and places who are systematically under-financed and excluded. To that end, we connect communities to CDFI financing, technical assistance, experience, and expertise.
