August 24, 2009 (FinancialWire) — Albina Community Bancorp (OTCBB: ACBC), Portland’s only certified community development bank, announced that it will receive a $216,547 Bank Enterprise Award, from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution Fund, for its 2008 community development work in Portland, Oregon.

CDFI funds are awarded to viable financial institutions that have the financial and managerial capacity to provide affordable and appropriate financial products and services that positively impact their communities.

“The awards being announced recognize depository institutions that choose to increase their community development activities to communities most in need,” said CDFI Fund director Donna J. Gambrell. As the only commercial bank in the Pacific Northwest certified as a CDFI by the U.S. Treasury, the BEA Award recognizes Albina’s work in Portland’s census tracts where at least 30 percent of the population lives at or below the national poverty level and where the unemployment rate is 1.5 times above the national average.

“We are once again honored to receive this award,” stated Cheryl L. Cebula, Albina Community Bank president and chief operating officer. “As a bank that was founded to support our local neighborhoods, we continue to do everything we can to help inspire job creation and extend financial opportunity in the neighborhoods where it’s most needed.” Albina has been a strong competitor for these awards over the past several years, with previous BEA awards totaling more than $4.8 million for the bank’s dedication to supporting community and economic development initiatives.

Through the BEA Award program, the CDFI Fund awards financial institutions for increasing the investment they make in community development activities. In this fiscal year 2009 round of the BEA Program, the U.S Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions  awarded over $22 million to 55 depository institutions for serving economically distressed communities across the nation. “These 55 awardees provided more than 300 affordable home mortgages, helped approximately 600 small businesses and provided financing to nearly 700 affordable housing and commercial real estate projects, among other activities, in economically distressed communities that are often the first to feel the effects of an economic crisis,” stated  Gambrell.

All depository institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.  are eligible to apply for a BEA Program award. Albina’s BEA Award is not related to TARP funding.

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