About Us

One City First

City First and its network of public, private, philanthropic and community partners and affiliates work together to offer dynamic and coordinated financial solutions. Alongside our “family of companies,” City First Enterprises, City First Homes and City First Foundation, we deliver a seamless lending and deposit platform, and triple-bottom line results: people, planet and profits, in low-to-moderate income communities.

Our Why

We envision communities in which every individual and family has the opportunity and access to prosper. We provide the intentional provision of capital and are focused on beneficial results to create, support and achieve economic equity.

Values Alignment

We are honored to reinforce our mission commitment through our governance structure, public and private designations and certifications, and a business strategy that puts our customers and community FIRST.

We are part of a global community of people and organizations who have intentionally joined together to build a more equitable society. We cannot and do not do this work alone and strategically partner with values-aligned private and public sector partners to advance our collective vision.

  • We are a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI)
    • At least 60% of our lending targets low-to-moderate income communities
    • Received an “Outstanding” Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Rating in September 2022, for our community development lending from 2019 through 2021
  • We are a designated, Black-led, Minority Depository Institution (MDI)
    • Majority African American led via Board and Management team
    • Serving majority minority urban communities
  • We are structured as a Public Benefit Corporation
    • One of only 2 publicly traded financial services companies that are benefit corporations
  • We are a certified B Corp
    • Best for the World™ for Customers in 2022
  • We are a Member of Global Alliance for Banking on Values (GABV)

 
 

Customers & Community

CityFirst is a nationally chartered bank focused on community building via our commercial financing for affordable housing developers and investors, nonprofits and small businesses.

We focus, specifically, on the low- and moderate-income neighbors of the District of Columbia, Baltimore and their surrounding suburban communities; the Counties of Los Angeles, Ventura, Riverside, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara, California and other urban communities that increase access to credit and capital for individuals and institutions located therein, and that improve the economic health of the communities located therein and specifically communities of color.

Impact at Scale

In 2021, City First Bank, N.A. merged with Broadway Federal Bank, f.s.b. to become the largest and first Black-led Minority Depository Institution with over $1 billion in total assets and over $700 million in total deposits to expand our reach, deepen our lending impact and fortify our mission to channel capital where it’s most needed.

CityFirst is an eight-time awardee and one of the handful of regulated banks with New Markets Tax Credit authority. We’ve financed more than 50 high-impact catalytic projects, with investments of up to $24 million per transaction, and over $543 million total, through our affiliate, City First New Markets Fund ll, LLC.

City First Bank is a commercial Community Development Financial Institution, Certified B Corp, held by a publicly traded Depository Institution Holding company (Broadway Financial Corporation, NASDAQ: BYFC). Broadway Financial Corporation is one of two publicly traded financial services companies that is a Public Benefit Corporation.