The Power of Community Development
We’re seeing the consequences now of the government shutdown and of Donald Trump using it as a political tool to further dismantle the services we rely on.
This weekend, as I was canvassing all across the district, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. So I wrote this down to get it out of my head and onto paper.
The first loan I ever helped make was to a woman named Gloria, when I was in college.
She was a single mom who cooked out of her church basement in Western NJ. She fed wedding guests, kids after choir practice, and anyone else who wandered in hungry. She dreamed of opening her own café, hiring a few of the teens from her congregation, and proving to her kids that hard work still meant something.
But no bank would lend to her.
So we did. Through a new community lender I helped start — what’s called a Community Development Financial Institution, or CDFI — we gave Gloria her shot.
She turned that small loan into Gloria’s Kitchen. Within a year, she had a line out the door on Sundays and was catering the very bank events that once rejected her.
That’s what CDFIs do. They see people. They bet on potential where others see risk.
Since that first loan, I’ve spent my career moving billions of dollars into communities so families could buy homes, open businesses, send their kids to good schools, and access healthcare in their communities.
- I helped start a CDFI in college to help revive manufacturing towns in the Lehigh Valley after Bethlehem Steel collapsed.
- At the Small Business Administration, I partnered with hundreds of CDFIs who went into churches and community centers to reach entrepreneurs who big banks ignored. I increased funding to low-income communities by 25% and to farms by 20%.
- I founded the Economic Opportunity Coalition, backed by 26 U.S. Senators, Democrats and Republicans, to invest $12 billion in CDFIs so first-time homeowners could afford mortgages.
And this month, Donald Trump cut their funding.
Everyone — Republicans, Democrats, small-town bankers, and even Wall Street investors — agrees CDFIs are a critical part of our financial system. But Trump used the shutdown to fire people and defund the institutions that lift up the very communities he claims to fight for.
Why?
Because when you stop believing in the idea that your neighbor’s success is tied to your own, you stop investing in people like Gloria. You start seeing government not as a tool to build with, but as a weapon to punish with.
I refuse to believe that’s who we are.
I still believe in Gloria. I still believe in opportunity everywhere. I still believe that when we bet on each other, we all rise.
That’s what this campaign is about.
I’m angry. I’m frustrated. I’m sad. And yes, I’m a little scared for what local economies will look like even six months from now because of this decision. It’s yet another in a long line of decisions by a government that is supposed to be supportive of small business owners, encouraging entrepreneurship, and creating opportunities for the next generation of businesses.
This is why elections matter.
Next week, New Jersey has a chance to decide whether we continue down this path of economic malpractice, where a ballroom in the White House is a better investment of time and money than people’s lives and livelihoods. Where taking vengeance and pulling funding from the Gateway Tunnel so millions of NJ commuters can’t get home for their kids’ soccer games is more important than treating people with dignity and respect.
Or we can choose another path. One that prioritizes people, making life in New Jersey and across the country more affordable, and respects our democratic principles.
This election won’t bring back CDFIs with the snap of our new Governor’s fingers. But what happens in New Jersey next week will send ripple effects throughout the country. The country, Tom Kean Jr., Speaker Johnson, Republicans in Congress, and President Trump will all be watching New Jersey a week from today.
Thank you for being part of this fight. Thank you for staying engaged, for believing, and for standing with me in this moment. We’re in this together, and I’m honored to be sharing this journey with you.
