Anne Dyjak, PCDC’s managing director of capital investments, is campaigning to bring her vision for healthier and more equitable communities to the board of the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN).
A leading voice of the growing mission-focused opportunity finance industry, OFN is a national network of community development financial institutions (CDFIs) investing in opportunities that benefit low-income, low-wealth, and other disinvested communities in the United States. Member organizations will consider a slate of candidates including Anne to help lead the network at OFN’s annual meeting and conference in Washington, D.C. this September.
Watch Anne’s campaign video and learn more about her candidacy below!
OFN Board Candidate Statement
OFN Questions & Answers with Anne Dyjak
Vote for Anne – and for healthy, thriving communities – at the OFN Membership Meeting on Thursday, September 28, from 8:45 AM–10:15 AM. Can’t make the meeting? Contact OFN to vote by proxy.
Anne Dyjak, OFN Board Candidate Campaign Video
Anne Dyjak Candidate Video from Opportunity Finance Network on Vimeo.
OFN Board Candidate Statement
Anne Dyjak
Managing Director, Capital Investments
Primary Care Development Corporation
I am Anne Dyjak and I humbly request your support of my candidacy for the OFN Board.
I am the Managing Director of Capital Investments at Primary Care Development Corporation (more commonly known as PCDC). PCDC is a national non-profit community development loan fund committed to catalyzing healthy thriving communities in underserved areas with a 25 year history of capital investment, capacity building technical assistance and advocacy. PCDC has over $200 million in portfolio under management comprised of loan, NMTC and bond financing primarily to community health centers. PCDC has been a member of OFN since 2001 and has been Aeris rated since 2005.
I am passionate about social justice and have been active in community service throughout my life, serving on various non-profit boards and leading a Sierra Club program that provides outdoor adventures for urban youth. I pursued a transition to the CDFI industry twelve years ago after a career in traditional financial services so that I could contribute my skills and experience and gain the personal and professional satisfaction of benefiting the greater good.
Throughout my career I have had the opportunity to work with a wide array of organizations in urban and rural communities – ranging from homebuyers to small business owners to commercial real estate developers – providing financing for working capital purposes to facility projects, including single family homes, mixed use retail, schools, and health centers. I have first-hand experience working with the diverse clients OFN’s membership serves and over the past 12 years I have had the pleasure of partnering with many talented CDFI’s across the country.
I believe in a society of equity and inclusion, where everyone deserves access to jobs which pay a living wage, safe affordable housing, education, healthy foods, and high quality health care. We are at a critical time in this country where our commitment, talents, and resources are needed now more than ever before to preserve and expand access to critical, safety-net resources and services for those most in need. I believe there is incredible opportunity before us in the CDFI industry to mobilize, collaborate, and advocate to support and transform peoples’ lives in low income communities to help build and develop equitable, healthy, thriving communities.
I fully support OFN’s mission of leading and supporting CDFIs and our partners to ensure that underserved people and communities have access to responsible, affordable capital and services. I would be honored to serve as an ambassador for you, OFN and our industry – advocating for resources, increasing recognition of the transformative work we do, seeking ways to strengthen our industry – advancing the goal of aligning capital with social, economic, and political justice. I ask for your support to represent you, the OFN membership, and the communities we serve on the OFN board.
Thank you.
OFN Questions & Answers with Anne Dyjak
Tell us a little about yourself and what motivates you to keep pushing for the industry:
I am the Managing Director of Capital Investments at Primary Care Development Corporation (PCDC), a
national community development loan fund committed to catalyzing healthy thriving communities in
underserved areas with a 25-year history of capital investment, capacity building technical assistance
and advocacy. I have over 30 years of lending experience during which time I have had the pleasure of
working in the CDFI industry and traditional banking. I am a lifelong conservationist (some of you may
know that I am also a birding enthusiast) and I am a rather spirited participant in community activist
groups on voter engagement and social justice. I treasure opportunities to connect to people and places,
and this motivates me to work with my colleagues in ensuring our society is fair, respectful, healthy, and
vibrant.
Recent events on the national landscape have focused attention on the inequalities and disparities that
exist across the country and reinforce how incredibly important our work is. I am motivated and inspired
to work with my colleagues and partners in community development particularly at this critical moment
in time in our country where we have the potential to transform underserved communities to be ones of
equity and inclusion, where everyone has access to jobs which pay a living wage, safe affordable
housing, education, healthy foods, and high-quality health care.
What do you think is the most important role for OFN in the CDFI industry right now?
CDFIs are extremely effective at leveraging public funding with private investment to fund innovative
solutions to meet the diverse needs of underserved communities – maximizing impact and stretching
precious public dollars. In the best of circumstances raising low cost, flexible capital to fund these
programs is challenging, however in this current environment, where traditional public and private
funding we have relied upon in the past are at risk of becoming even more limited, we are confronted
with a new set of challenges.
I am encouraged by the resourcefulness and ingenuity of our industry in identifying and cultivating new
sources of capital to fund the important work we do. The recent examples of CDFIs accessing the capital
markets and attracting new impact investors is exciting and puts our industry on a course towards
greater sustainability. One of the most important roles OFN can perform is to work with industry leaders
and partners to improve access to capital for all CDFIs, regardless of size, geography, or sector. OFN can
be catalytic by bringing together CDFIs to share expertise and collaborate to source and cultivate new
sources of capital, aggregate data to strengthen and articulate our message to increase awareness, and
develop innovative ways to preserve and protect the flow of resources to the communities we serve
while managing new risks as the environment changes dramatically. I believe this is critical for our
industry to continue to deliver on our mission as CDFIs to ensure improved – in the worst case
uninterrupted – access to resources and services for underserved people and businesses so that they
may be successful and flourish in healthy, vibrant communities.
What will you bring to the OFN Board during the next three years?
I bring commitment, passion and a breadth of experience to the OFN board. Like some of my colleagues
at peer CDFIs, I came to the industry following an initial career in traditional banking. Throughout my
career, I have gained experience working with the diverse clients OFN’s membership serves. I have had
the opportunity to work in urban and rural communities, with homebuyers, small business owners, and
real estate developers, providing financing that enabled people to buy their first home and businesses to
expand services. I have had the privilege of partnering with many talented CDFI’s across the country and
value collaboration and the contribution of unique perspectives and expertise. I am committed to
supporting the membership of OFN, addressing the challenges and opportunities before us – from
capitalization to technology to impact evaluation to professional development of our future CDFI
leaders. I am passionate about strengthening our industry and supporting OFN’s mission of leading and
supporting CDFIs and our partners to ensure that underserved people and communities have access to
responsible, affordable capital and services so that we may help build and develop equitable, healthy,
thriving communities.