Minnesota Consortium of Community Developers

10/07/2026

The MCCD team joined over 75 other organizations at last week's Minnesota CDFI Coalition Conference in St. Cloud. Through conferences sessions and presentations, we built new relationships, connected with community partners, and shared information to support Minnesota's network of CDFIs.

Thank you to the Minnesota CDFI Coalition for hosting a great event!

09/30/2026

MCCD is thrilled to introduce Alexis Valeriano Hernandez, our first Field Building Manager!

Alexis grew up in Northfield Minnesota after arriving from Mexico at a young age. As a first-generation college student, he graduated in his hometown with a political science degree from St. Olaf College in 2020. In that same year, he moved to Denver, CO, where he honed his skills in immigrant rights, affordable housing, and labor organizing. Whether it was developing new union leaders in the workplace, taking a cohort of leaders to Washington, D.C. to lobby their U.S. representatives for legal immigration protections, or recruiting and training members to work on the successful law where landlords needed a just cause to evict a tenant, his journey has focused on leadership development for members.

As the Field Building Manager, Alexis will support MCCD's efforts to strengthen the community development field through member engagement, leadership development, network building, and sector-wide collaboration.

09/28/2026

During our Practicing Inclusive and Equitable Lending session last week, we explored how lending systems impact access to capital through an equity lens. Thank you to our panelists and active participants for joining us!

Keep an eye out for our next session!

09/24/2026

In 2023, regulators finalized a rule meant to strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). This landmark 1977 law requires banks to meet the credit needs of the communities where they do business, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Banks sued, and a federal judge in Texas blocked that rule from taking effect in 2024.

Instead of continuing to fight in court, the OCC and FDIC, under the Trump Administration, dropped their appeal and released a new proposal on August 12, 2026. Under the new proposal, banks of all sizes would face lighter scrutiny and no longer require certain community development evaluations. According to the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC), Minnesota would be hit especially hard, eliminating these evaluations for 50 out of 107 banks.

The bottom line: This proposal shrinks the number of banks held accountable to underserved communities, weakens the specific protections that targeted the most disadvantaged places, and reduces the data needed to catch discrimination. These changes land hardest on the communities CRA was written to protect: low-to-moderate income neighborhoods, communities of color, rural areas, and (with one exception for Tribal lands) Native communities.

It’s not too late to stop this proposal. Take action at

In 2023, regulators finalized a rule meant to strengthen the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), a landmark 1977 law that requires banks to meet the credit needs of the communities where they do business, including low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. Banks sued, and a federal judge in Texas blocke...

09/22/2026

The MCCD team had a great time at the 20th anniversary of Northside Economic Opportunity Network (NEON).

For two decades, MCCD member NEON has served North Minneapolis's low and moderate-income entrepreneuers with loan capital, technical assistance, and more. This event celebrated the organization's impact, honored their visionaries, and included words of gratitude from MCCD team member Jeena Gurung Vomhof.

Thank you to the NEON team for hosting a great event, and congratulations on this exciting milestone!

09/15/2026

Do you have upcoming events, job openings, or success stories that you want to advertise?

MCCD invites our consortium members to submit content to our Rundown newsletter. The Rundown shares housing and economic development resources, news, events, policy updates, and more to support the work of our community partners, consortium members, and supporters. This newsletter goes out to industry partners and consortium members across Minnesota, ensuring that your information reaches a wide audience.

Get started at

09/08/2026

MCCD's Emerging Leaders in Community Development (ELCD) program will be hosting our third learning session later this month.

"Practicing Inclusive and Equitable Lending" will help emerging leaders explore how lending systems impact access to capital. Hear perspectives from CDFIs, lenders, and small business owners, and participate in an interactive exercise that examines funding decisions through an equity lens.

Learn more and sign up at

This session will explore how lending systems impact access to capital. Hear perspectives from CDFIs, lenders, small businesses, and more.

09/02/2026

Jeena Gurung Vomhof—MCCD Business Advisor, WomenVenture entrepreneur, and owner of Namaste Brows & Boutique—has returned to the Minnesota State Fair with her handmade Nepali goods. Make sure to visit her on the lower level of the Grandstand this year!

08/31/2026

MCCD is pleased to welcome Benjamin Alfaro as our new Director of Advancement. In this role, Benjamin will lead MCCD's fundraising, philanthropic partnerships, and advancement strategy, helping secure the resources and relationships that strengthen our organization, support our members, and advance community development across Minnesota.

Benjamin brings experience across philanthropy, workforce and economic development, arts education, strategic communications, and institutional partnerships. Most recently, he led corporate and foundation relations at Goodwill-Easter Seals Minnesota, where he developed strategic partnerships and secured philanthropic support for workforce development, family economic mobility, and community-based initiatives throughout the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.

At MCCD, Benjamin will focus on strengthening relationships with current funding partners, building new philanthropic partnerships, diversifying revenue, and advancing a long-term development strategy that supports the consortium and the important work of its members.

Benjamin is also a writer and researcher whose work explores philanthropy, governance, public trust, and institutional responses to community needs. His writing has appeared in Nonprofit Quarterly and MinnPost and is forthcoming in the Knowledge Construction in Philanthropy series. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from Wayne State University and a Master of Professional Studies in Arts and Cultural Leadership from the University of Minnesota and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Management and Public Service at Hamline University.

08/19/2026

MCCD is thrilled to announce that Kadra Abdi has been named as our first dedicated Director of Field Building!

Field building is a wide-ranging area of work that brings more capacity, resources, and interconnectedness to the Community Development ecosystem. Specifically, for MCCD Field Building is focused on:

• Leading our member engagement efforts
• Creating leadership development programming for our sector
• Building deep relationships between the many community development stakeholders

Having served as our Director of Local Policy for years, there is no better fit for this new position than Kadra. Throughout her time at MCCD, she has built deep relationships with our consortium members and sector partners by leading our Emerging Leaders in Community Development program, serving on the Board of Directors for The Alliance for Metropolitan Stability and Center for Victims of Torture, and leading our metro-area policy advocacy on behalf of community development organizations.

Kadra is MCCD’s first dedicated Director of Field Building, a role designed to better meet the needs of our consortium members and the greater community development ecosystem. In this role, Kadra will work on strengthening MCCD's network of members and partners, developing strategies that support the growth and sustainability of the community development sector, overseeing leadership development initiatives, and advancing efforts that build connections, capacity, and collaboration across the field.

Members: Kadra would love to hear from you about your organization’s needs and how we can better serve you. Share your feedback at https://mccdmn.tfaforms.net/53