WEDA Names Michael Harrigan as CRA Network Project Recruiter

The Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA) is pleased to announce the recent engagement of Michael Harrigan, who will join the WEDA team as Project Recruiter for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Network of Wisconsin. In his new role, Harrigan will identify and connect CRA eligible projects with potential funders to help advance economic growth in communities across the state.

Michael Harrigan

“I was pleased to hear from WEDA regarding their new CRA Network initiative, and I am excited to help spread the word on this important program that aims to drive new investment in Wisconsin,” said Harrigan. “The flexible and focused scope of this engagement will be a great fit and provides an opportunity for me to discuss the program with many of the local officials that I’ve worked with in the past.”

Harrigan recently retired after a 40-plus year career in local government and public finance. He began his career in city administration, and spent the past two decades at Ehlers, a leader in municipal advisory services that provides public finance advice to more than 1,500 local units of governments and public agencies across five states. Harrigan was appointed to the Ehlers’ Board of Directors in 1999 and served as Chairman of the Board from 2006 until his retirement in late 2018.

The CRA Network was launched by WEDA, with support from WBD, Inc., in 2018 to connect CRA eligible projects with banks looking to fund qualified projects. The program is modeled after a successful Federal Reserve program that has delivered $31 million in funding for CRA projects since 2011. The Community Reinvestment Act was initially enacted by Congress in 1977 to encourage banks to make financing and investments available to projects in low and moderate-income neighborhoods.

“In my experience, attracting capital to projects can be a challenge even under favorable circumstances,” said Harrigan. “I look forward to helping communities with projects to identify banks that would be willing to assist in making their more challenging projects a reality.”

For more information on the CRA Network, please visit the WEDA website at www.cranetwrok.org.