Question 1

What is City First Bank?

Accepted Answer

City First Bank is a mission-driven Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and certified B Corporation specializing in community development banking. With approximately $1.33 billion in total assets and 4 offices, City First Bank is one of the largest Black-led Minority Depository Institutions in the United States. The bank focuses on expanding economic opportunity in underinvested urban communities by providing capital, financial services, and strategic partnerships to nonprofits, small businesses, affordable housing developers, and community organizations primarily in Washington, DC and Los Angeles, California.

Question 2

When was City First Bank founded?

Accepted Answer

City First Bank's origins trace back to 1993, when two-dozen community leaders gathered in a church basement in Washington, DC to address the systemic lack of access to capital in historically excluded and underinvested communities. The bank officially opened its doors in November 1998 with Debbi Hurd Baptist (of Freddie Mac) as founding CEO and Lloyd Smith (of Marshall Heights Community Development Corporation) as Chairman, backed by approximately $9.4 million in investments from public and private sources.

City First Bank became Washington, DC's first bank certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) in 1999. The bank was founded to serve underserved neighbors following decades without adequate banking services after the collapse of the Freedmen's Savings Bank and Trust Company (1865-1874).

In 2021, City First Bank merged with Broadway Federal Bank, a fellow CDFI based in Los Angeles that was founded in 1947, creating one of the largest mission-driven banks in the country under the City First Bank name.

Question 3

Where is City First Bank headquartered?

Accepted Answer

City First Bank is headquartered in Washington, DC. The bank maintains its primary operations in the nation's capital while also operating significant banking operations in Los Angeles, California following the 2021 merger with Broadway Federal Bank.

Question 4

Where does City First Bank operate?

Accepted Answer

City First Bank operates 4 offices serving the Washington, DC metropolitan area (including DC, Maryland, and Virginia suburbs) and Los Angeles, California. The bank's geographic focus centers on low- and moderate-income communities in these metropolitan regions, with particular emphasis on historically underinvested urban neighborhoods in the District of Columbia and Southern California.

Question 5

What services does City First Bank offer?

Accepted Answer

City First Bank provides specialized community development banking services designed to address capital gaps in underinvested communities. Services include commercial lending for affordable housing development, nonprofit financing, small business loans, commercial real estate financing, education facility lending, healthcare center development, and arts and cultural institution support.

The bank offers deposit products for both individual and institutional clients, including checking and savings accounts for socially motivated investors seeking both financial returns and community impact. City First Bank works extensively with New Markets Tax Credits to finance large-scale community development projects and offers subsidized financing for eligible projects demonstrating sustained community benefits.

Through partnerships with organizations like City First Enterprises (CFE), the bank provides technical assistance and financial capacity building to help borrowers develop the financial acumen needed for responsible debt management. Digital banking capabilities are available for both consumer and commercial clients.

Question 6

What makes City First Bank unique?

Accepted Answer

City First Bank is distinguished as a mission-driven financial institution with an unparalleled legacy in community development. The bank operates with a triple bottom line approach, emphasizing social impact alongside financial sustainability. As a certified CDFI and B Corporation, City First Bank channels capital specifically to underinvested communities that have historically been excluded from traditional banking services.

The bank has financed transformative community projects including THEARC in southeast DC (where over 80% of students qualify for free or reduced lunch), the Atlas Performing Arts Center on H Street, YMCA Anthony Bowen's redevelopment into a mixed-use facility with 170 apartments, and critical expansions for organizations like So Others Might Eat (SOME), Bread for the City, and Thurgood Marshall Academy.

Since its CDFI certification in 1999, City First Bank has channeled over $1 billion of capital into low- and moderate-income communities. The 2021 merger with Broadway Federal Bank united nearly 80 years of combined community development banking legacy under one institution.

City First Bank has received significant recognition, including partnerships with the National Football League (which allocated $125 million with Black-owned businesses including City First Bank) and Capital Magnet Fund awards from the CDFI Fund.

Question 7

What type of financial institution is City First Bank?

Accepted Answer

City First Bank is classified as a National Association bank supervised by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and insured by the FDIC (Certificate #34352). The bank holds multiple specialized designations: it is a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), a Minority Depository Institution (MDI), a certified B Corporation, and operates as a mission-driven community development bank. City First Bank is publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol BYFC following its merger with Broadway Federal Bank.

Question 8

What is City First Bank's historical merger legacy?

Accepted Answer

The 2021 merger between City First Bank and Broadway Federal Bank united two pioneering African American-founded financial institutions with complementary missions. Broadway Federal Savings and Loan was founded on January 11, 1947, in Los Angeles by three African American entrepreneurs: H.A. Howard (real estate broker), Dr. H. Claude Hudson (dentist, lawyer, and civil rights advocate), and Paul Revere Williams (premier African American architect).

Broadway Federal was established to provide access to homeownership for returning African American soldiers of World War II who faced discrimination from traditional lenders. The institution received the Social Compact Award in 1998 and the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco's Community Partnership Award in 1999 for its community development work.

The merger created one of the largest Black-led Minority Depository Institutions in the United States, combining City First's strength in DC and Broadway Federal's legacy in Los Angeles under unified leadership committed to expanding economic opportunity in underinvested urban communities nationwide.

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