Today on Credit Union Conversations, Mark Ritter sits down with Bryan Doxford of Grow America to discuss innovative approaches to supporting small businesses, affordable housing, and underserved communities. Bryan shares insights into the mission-driven work of Grow America, including its role in providing capital through SBA loans, new market tax credits, and low-income housing initiatives. Bryan highlights how Grow America partners with credit unions, CDFIs, and community organizations to bridge funding gaps, offer economic development training, and help businesses access the capital they need to thrive.

They also delve into the current state of Certified Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), exploring trends in consolidation, grant reliance, and self-sufficiency. Bryan underscores the importance of collaboration, both between mission-aligned organizations and with credit unions, to maximize impact in underserved communities. From small business lending to affordable housing and workforce development, this episode provides actionable insights for credit unions and community-focused organizations seeking to expand their impact.

What You Will Learn in This Episode: 

✅How Grow America (formerly NDC) drives community impact

✅The evolving landscape of CDFIs

✅The national housing shortage & affordability crisis

✅How credit unions and CDFIs can partner for greater impact

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TIMESTAMPS:  

00:00 Introduction

01:00 Bryan Doxford’s career journey: from credit unions to SBA lending

07:00 About Grow America’s mission and programs

09:00 Explanation of new market tax credits

11:00 Current state and future of CDFIs

17:100 Affordable housing initiatives and impact

21:00 Training programs and community partnerships

24:00 Access to capital and client community examples

25:00 How credit unions can collaborate with Grow America

KEY TAKEAWAYS:  

💎Grow America partners with credit unions and CDFIs to provide access to SBA and non-SBA business loans, bridging capital gaps in underserved communities.

💎The future of CDFIs may involve strategic consolidation and increased self-sufficiency, balancing grant reliance with sustainable operations.

💎Affordable housing initiatives, new market tax credits, and technical training programs are critical tools for driving economic development nationwide. 

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Bryan Doxford is a finance and community development expert with over 20 years of experience working with credit unions, banks, and SBA lending programs. Currently leading lending initiatives at Grow America, Bryan focuses on expanding access to capital, affordable housing, and economic development in underserved communities across the U.S.

Grow America Website

Bryan Doxford LinkedIn

RESOURCES MENTIONED: 

Mark Ritter - Website

Mark Ritter - LinkedIn

SEO KEYWORDS: 

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[00:00:30] So I really enjoy talking with credit unions, but what some people don't realize is there's a lot of organizations out there with credit union philosophy. That aren't necessarily credit unions. And I, I, I love talking with people. I love people who share our mission. So I wanted to bring one of those people in today.

[00:01:00] Bryan Doxford: Morning. I'm great. I'm excited to be a part of this podcast today. Thanks for the invitation.

[00:01:10] Bryan Doxford: Today I'm actually at LaGuardia Community College, so I'm participating in an event with the 10,000 Small Business Program with Goldman Sachs today, interestingly enough.

[00:01:23] Mark Ritter: Sounds fun. Sounds like a great day, and sounds like, uh, your mission.

[00:01:29] Mark Ritter: so before we get into what you're up to today and your organization that you, that you work for today, why don't you tell people a little bit about you, your background, your career journey?

[00:01:55] Mark Ritter: just needed a job and somebody who was gonna pay you every other Friday.

[00:02:04] I'll trade you hours. You trade me for a paycheck. No, but really, I took a job at a local credit union and. Honestly, I fell in love after two years at that credit union. I ended up switching and I moved to another credit union where I was asked to be a branch manager and really one thing after another, I just kept falling head over heels in love with finance and in in particular, mark, the thing that I really liked the most was working with business owners.

[00:02:53] Where I would be able to focus on working with business owners that led me to go work for Zions Bank and I worked in their national real estate department where [00:03:00] we helped business owners across the US buy, really call it a home for their companies. And that was ultra rewarding. I would, uh, I would say rewarding.

[00:03:30] We moved to New York City, and at that point I was fortunate to join an SBA lender, where all of a sudden now the tools in my toolbox increased exponentially. I had SB five oh fours and an S SB seven A program, and then the SBA Community Advantage and a microloan program. And that just really set me up for my love and interest in, in the SBA world.

[00:04:08] Mark Ritter: It, it's just funny to me how you have these little inflection points in life that just take you on a journey that you didn't plan out.

[00:04:35] Bryan Doxford: It would not have, I was studying architecture and thinking about a career in the, in the trades.

[00:04:44] Mark Ritter: That is exactly the opposite of where you would've ended up today. So, alright. So you're a New Yorker. I, I always have to ask people, just because I'm fascinated with people who live in New York, give me your favorite hotspot, your rest, your [00:05:00] favorite restaurant, or your favorite thing to do that New Yorkers do.

[00:05:09] Bryan Doxford: So. I, I love pizza. Most New Yorkers do, so I gotta give a shout out to a couple of the, the great pizza places. If I'm hungry for a great slice, I'm going to Lin Street Pizza. They have a location, they're original out in Brooklyn.

[00:05:45] And then they have this, the sort of Johnny style, I think is what they call. And they put burrata on it and Mike's hot honey, and it is, I'm salivating thinking about it. So those would be my food hotspots, certainly pizza focused.

[00:06:06] Next time I'm in, I'm in the area. As I, uh, I love both of those things and try to grab as many figs as possible in season. And probably, uh, you know, my doc, if I told my doctor how much fresh bacon I have, I buy from the local farm. But if I talked to my doctor honestly about my bacon consumption, it would, uh, probably raise some red flags.

[00:06:38] Bryan Doxford: Yeah, they're great places. The other thing just generally speaking about New York is that you get to walk everywhere. So the cool thing is, is most tourists when they walk around, obviously they get to see the streets, but look up the architecture in New York City is amazing and in particular you can look up when you get outside of the big skyscrapers, all of the water towers and on top of the buildings.

[00:07:06] Mark Ritter: Yes. I, I need to go back. I haven't been. Hopefully I'll make, uh, a trip over the holidays.

[00:07:14] Mark Ritter: All right, so you're, you're with Grow America now.

[00:07:27] Bryan Doxford: Yeah. Grow America hasn't always been known by the name Grow America. It was founded in 1969 and the name at that point, national Development Council, or NDC as lots of people would call it, its mission, has been to channel capital and to low income communities to support affordable housing.

[00:08:20] It also supports affordable housing initiatives, including work within the low income housing tax credit program. Last thing I'd add is Grow America runs a very well-regarded training program. People out there that that think, oh, that name is familiar, NDC, now Grow America, it, it might be through training.

[00:08:47] Mark Ritter: Alright, so the one piece that you mentioned that I am not well versed in is new market tax credits. Give people kind of, uh, [00:09:00] and me just kind of the 32nd overview on what this is in their, for their community.

[00:09:26] Uh, sometimes you'll have investors, but typically speaking you have debt and there's a lot of pro projects out there that would benefit from a new market tax credit infusion that really just help the capital stack get to the finish line. And so the new market tax credit program, in my own experiences giving some additional sort of push, I would choose less of a word and more of like a sound effect here, like umph to be able to get a project across that final hurdle to make it.

[00:09:55] Mark Ritter: Okay, great. And if people wanna

[00:10:03] Mark Ritter: So I wa I wanted, and, and, and that's where I, I really think sometimes we think anybody that whose name doesn't end in credit union is on the other side.

[00:10:39] Bryan Doxford: I think that's spot on. We are definitely mission aligned.

[00:11:17] Bryan Doxford: Yeah, that's a great question and. To all the listeners out there, especially those who do know the CDFI industry. I, I think that a lot of people are asking this question. It's timely, it's critical. They're go ahead

[00:11:38] Uh, CDFI is Certified Development Financial Institution. So, all right. Take it away.

[00:11:57] Mark Ritter: there.

[00:12:00] Bryan Doxford: Yeah. So I should maybe say everything I'm about to, to, to say is really my own, my own opinion, not necessarily opinions of, of Grow America. But to dive right in, mark, right now, there's a pretty compelling argument on the table that the future of CDFIs will likely involve strategic consolidation.

[00:12:55] And I think if, I think that's primarily because the CFIs do [00:13:00] really good work. When I think about the city offi industry, I think there's a strong parallel to CDFIs and, and farming. And I think about what it means to get water to the end of the row in farming.

[00:13:27] You know, in the credit union world, you get some regulatory relief and, and things like that. But also traditionally there have been CDFI grants available. And, and, and talk a little bit about the, the use of grants or the reliance of grants and maybe where, because, because it seems, I feel like that's the piece that may be under attack the most.

[00:13:59] Bryan Doxford: [00:14:00] So the CDFI designation and funding to weave those both in together. They could go away. I personally believe, and I, I hope that, that even if that were to happen, that the work would continue, and I'm gonna choose my words carefully here.

[00:14:46] And I think there's other CDFIs that, that are self-sufficient, but they do take on outside funds, whether it be grants, government funds, philanthropic money to do something amazing, right? Like, here's this great idea, I'm gonna execute it, but it's like [00:15:00] a startup. So they need some, some seed funds to, to enact their growth.

[00:15:10] Mark Ritter: you know? And, and, and I think there's kind of a few buckets there where, you know, we have. One CDFI, owner at MBFS, who's well over a billion dollars and another one that's $800 million. And they are mission-driven credit unions and do a lot of good things.

[00:15:58] Bryan Doxford: Mark, I think that's spot on. When I think [00:16:00] about the, the smallest, they're the most vulnerable. It's really hard to staff the infrastructure to, to operate A-C-D-F-I. And every CFI has their own distinct. Focus. Some focus exclusively on new markets, some on low income housing, others just on business education and some on lending.

[00:16:41] Mark Ritter: Yeah, a absolutely. You know, and I, I think of, we, we've been very active working with CDFIs and it's almost, you know, they're not going to hire a full-time credit analyst and invest. You know, hundreds of thousands of dollars in commercial loan systems. So, so we help do that. [00:17:00] But, you know, at, at your core operations, wow.

[00:17:19] Bryan Doxford: I yes, all day long and I. I just look at going back to the getting water to the end of the row. How many businesses have started off with a loan from A-C-D-F-I and that the numbers are in the thousands.

[00:17:59] And, [00:18:00] and I, and, and I still am baffled on how we got here. You know, once again, that could probably be an entire show, uh, but. But, but talk to me about Grow America and housing support and, and, and your, your perception of the marketplace today and what people like yourself can do to help.

[00:18:20] Thinking about your kids and, and their housing. My kids are about 10 years younger than yours, and I keep. Just thinking, and I've almost just embraced this reality and my kids are never gonna move out. Mark, they're, they're there for long haul. If they live in New York City,

[00:18:39] So

[00:19:03] So Grow America is, is deeply involved in creating affordable housing opportunities. It's central to our approach to community and I would add economic development. So here's a couple ways in which we, we help. So we act as a nonprofit intermediary, and in doing so, we often are connecting low income housing tax credit developers with, on the other side, low income housing tax credit investors.

[00:19:56] And these in investments are supporting [00:20:00] communities, like I said, coast to coast. So from rural New York, which plenty of New York actually is rural to rural Seattle to Vicksburg, Augusta, you name it. Everywhere. Where there are needs we would go. I would add that our work. Far beyond capital. So we partner with housing sponsors and developers from the very beginning of a project.

[00:20:43] And we've done those in 30 states across the us.

[00:21:03] Bryan Doxford: And I should add, this ties back to the, the prior comment around CDFIs.

[00:21:17] Mark Ritter: So previously you mentioned about people may be most familiar or have come across Grow America previously, NDC in your training and support. Tell me a little bit about what training opportunities are out there.

[00:21:50] Bryan Doxford: Yeah. I don't want this to sound like a commercial. Make it a commercial. You do good work. I'm going in.

[00:22:28] Now in terms of us just being like-minded with probably many of our listeners today, I think that's spot on and it's not just being like-minded. It goes back, I guess to this, this idea of being mission aligned. So there's a couple of things that we've created over the years Mark that are really based on our desire and interest in working with communities.

[00:23:12] They're actively learning environments where they have the chance to service best practices. Accelerate in, in, uh, innovation and then help organizations adapt to shifting economic and policy landscapes, specifically now around referrals. So one of the things that, that grower has done since the beginning is we work with, and I, you've heard me use this term several times, a client to communities specifically here though, just adding to communities, client communities.

[00:24:04] And for anyone out there that's listening, that that term is probably irrelevant, but it just basically means I have the same permission to make SBA loans that the biggest banks out there do. And so I'll work with this client community and I can leverage their money four to one. So as an example, like Long Beach, California.

[00:24:43] We're working with businesses and, and for the, the banks and credit unions out there, it's great because we can. Chances are we can help serve the people who already have their deposit relationships with those institutions. And we're a non-depository shop, right? So it becomes wonderful that we can help those businesses and [00:25:00] then ultimately help those businesses, you know, graduate into the next level of finance.

[00:25:08] Mark Ritter: Oh, well that is just, just fabulous and, and, and I said it's mu much needed and it's great to, I was really happy to connect you with our audience and the credit unions out there that listen to this show to give people a little bit of, uh, the, what, what's the Grow America website?

[00:25:33] Bryan Doxford: Yeah, I would say if anyone wanted to reach out to me directly, LinkedIn is fantastic. Brian d Oxford, you could link reach out to me if you go to our website, grow america.org.

[00:26:06] So I'd be happy to fill any phone call for any, any idea.

[00:26:30] So I would highly recommend checking out Grow America and see, uh, if it may, it makes a fit for you and connect with Brian d Oxford and his team there. So for please subscribe and listen to us if you enjoyed this podcast. If you enjoyed hearing from Brian, we drop episodes every Tuesday. So, uh, we, we appreciate your support and if there's ever any topics or, or, or guests you'd like to, to hear on our show, please feel out to reach out to me on [00:27:00] LinkedIn, our website, email, wherever easiest is for you.