Indiana Bond Bank to provide pooled financing option to fill gap for Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs grant recipients

(Indianapolis, Indiana) The Indiana Bond Bank announced today the launch of The Gap Avoidance Program (G.A.P), which is designed to bridge funding shortfalls faced by recipients of Community Development Block Grants, that is administered by the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs.

“The Indiana Bond Bank created G.A.P. in response to financing shortfalls threatening to stall critical community development projects across Indiana,” said Mark Wuellner, Indiana Bonk Bank’s Executive Director.  

The Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs identified cities and towns who are facing financing gaps after being awarded funds as a part of their Community Development Block Grant projects. These funding gaps can cause project delays and force communities to find new funding sources in a short period of time.

“As this trend began to emerge, we found a great partner in the Indiana Bond Bank to help us provide an option for cities and towns who need additional funding,” said Jodi Golden, OCRA Executive Director.

The Indiana Bond Bank built G.A.P. off its years of experience structuring statewide pooled financings. In a pooled financing transaction, multiple entities with similar financing needs come together in one transaction to achieve economies of scale.  

“Without G.A.P., each community would be on its own to cover funding shortfalls,” Wuellner said.  “That’s burdensome and inefficient. We designed G.A.P. so that communities will be able to tailor loan terms and repayment structures to their individual needs, while enjoying the collective benefits of a single process and shared costs.”

Golden said that by allowing communities from across the state to come together to achieve better results, G.A.P. feels like a natural extension of the ongoing conversation on the power of regional solutions.

The Gap Avoidance Program will be operated as a pooled loan program, with notes repayable on terms of up to ten years.  Notice of intent to participate in G.A.P. is now available at http://inbondbank.com/gap-avoidance-program-gap/.  Applications for the first round are due January 15, 2019.