Eligibility

Eligible applicants include community development corporations, other nonprofit organizations involved in community development, employee and other types of cooperatives, municipalities and businesses.

New Hampshire RSA 162-L:1, definitions for eligible applicants are as follows.

• Community development corporation means a nonprofit corporation, organized under the laws of the state to carry out certain public purposes and with bylaws providing that:
  1. The corporation shall be organized to operate within specific geographic boundaries.
  2. Membership in the corporation shall be open to all residents of the target area who are 18 years of age or older; membership may be open to persons outside the target area, but voting membership of persons not residing in the target area shall be limited to 10 percent of the total membership.
  3. The corporation shall have a board of directors, a majority of whom reside in a target area or are members of a target population, 2/3 of whom are elected by the membership, with each member having an equal vote.
  4. The corporation shall make a demonstrable effort to hire low income or underemployed residents of the operating area.
  5. The corporation shall impose an annual individual membership fee of not less than $1 nor more than $10.

• • Other nonprofit organizations and municipal governments involved in community development means a nonprofit organization organized under the laws of the state or municipal government to carry out purposes related to community development, improvement, revitalization, or other activities consistent with the purposes of this chapter.

• • Employee cooperative means a corporation in which the power to elect at least 2/3 of the corporation’s directors is held by the employees and in which such elections are held on a one person-one vote basis.

• Other type of cooperative means any corporation in which the power to elect the governing body is held by the members of the corporation and in which elections are held on a one person-one vote basis. This may include cooperatives such as housing cooperatives and consumer cooperatives.

CDFA will apply the following principles when considering applications from eligible nonprofit faith-based organizations:

• • Project activities must be related to community development, improvement, revitalization or other activities consistent CDFA’s mission.

• • Recipients may not discriminate against a project beneficiary on the basis of religion or religious belief.

• • Funds may not be used for explicitly religious activities (including activities that involve overt religious content such as worship, religious instruction, or proselytization). Such activities may be offered outside of activities that are supported with CDFA resources.

• Participation in any explicitly religious activities must be voluntary.