Obama, Geithner Target Loan Help To Hardest-Hit Communities

As part of an effort to redirect TARP funds from Wall Street to Main Street, the Treasury Department Wednesday announced a program to provide lower-cost capital to community development financial institutions that serve the communities that have been hardest hit by the recession. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner believes that without this help, many of those communities could continue to see their local economies spiral downward even after the recovery takes hold elsewhere, because banks would remain hesitant to lend in those areas, according to Obama administration officials.