Meet Alba Castillo, NTCIC’s Summer 2025 Open Access Fellow.
At the conclusion of her fellowship this summer, we sat down with Alba to learn more about her background and future in community development. Read her interview below!
Can you talk a little bit about your background and what brought you into the community development world?
My background has not been a linear path by any means. Years ago, I was a mortgage underwriter, and then I worked for a real estate attorney. Then I found the CDFI industry, and that changed everything. I had always been interested in economic development and creating opportunities for people and communities, so when I found out about the community development finance industry, it just kind of clicked. I ended up working at the Housing Development Fund (HDF), an affordable housing CDFI in Connecticut, and eventually that led me to find the Opportunity Finance Network (OFN), which is what brought me to the DC area.
What are some of your professional strengths and interests?
My roles in community development have been focused on program management, cross-functional coordination, and bringing people and processes together. I really enjoy the challenge of taking a lot of moving parts or loose ends to create something cohesive. A professional strength is identifying where systems can work better and creating structure that helps things flow more smoothly.
As far as interests go, early this year I started taking a community development finance professional certification with Grow America. Pretty much immediately after the first course, I realized that I was drawn to the real estate finance portion of the work. I went on to take another course in the program that was solely focused on community development real estate finance, and really enjoyed learning how projects are structured, how the financing works, and how it all ties back to creating long-term benefits for communities. Actually, right as I was starting that second course is when I found out that I had been accepted to the Open Access program and would be working in the asset management team at NTCIC. Through the resources of the Open Access Fellowship, I’ve completed Novogradac trainings in HTC, NMTC, and LIHTC, including the NMTC 101 workshop at the Novogradac conference in DC. I’ve also completed coursework in financial modeling and NMTC underwriting. It all feels like an aligned next step that builds on my professional experience and allows me to go deeper into parts of community development work that really energize me.
What did you learn during your time at NTCIC?
In addition to the technical training the fellowship provided, I’ve been working closely with the Asset Management team on a couple of key projects focused on process mapping and how project data is tracked and organized. As I got further into my deliverables, I had the chance to explore how the team captures and uses data and how it connects to the rest of the organization – it’s something I’ve really enjoyed digging into.
One thing that stood out is how clearly this work connects with my long-term goals. I’m interested in the commercial real estate side of community development finance and my time at NTCIC has given me a deeper understanding of that work – both technically and operationally. It’s helped me feel more connected to the purpose behind it and more confident that I’m moving in the right direction. I also really appreciated working in a welcoming and supportive environment and seeing how deeply rooted NTCIC’s work is in community development. That alignment confirmed that this is the kind of organization I would love to keep growing with.
What are some of your goals and next steps now that you’ve finished the fellowship?
My goal is to find a full-time job where I can keep growing in the commercial real estate space – especially work that connects to creating jobs, fostering stability, and keeping wealth in communities. I’ve been very influenced by my time at NTCIC, and I’m particularly interested in tax credit finance and want to deepen my understanding of how these deals are structured and managed.
I’ve been intentional about this career pivot and I’m excited to continue learning, contribute meaningfully to a mission-aligned team, and deepen my expertise in this sector of the community development finance industry – an industry where I strongly believe I belong and where I want to help create long-term impact.
Who or what inspires you the most?
I think people who are unapologetically themselves. When someone is just fully themselves, whether that’s in the way they express themselves or hobbies they like to do in their spare time, and they know and embrace who they are – that’s really inspiring to me on a personal level.
And when I think of something that inspires me career-wise, it’s the CDFI industry. When I started in community development finance, it was on the more regional, “boots on the ground” side at HDF, then I moved on to the national stage with OFN, and I got to witness the work of CDFIs from across sectors and across the country. And now I’m learning more about the tax credits and the commercial real estate side, and all that experience just confirms that the industry we work in is amazing and impactful – and more people need to know about it!
Would you recommend the fellowship? And if so, who is the ideal candidate?
I definitely recommend the Open Access Fellowship. The founders and the board have been really thoughtful about what a professional needs to be successful in the community development real estate industry. The fellowship provides great networking and mentorship opportunities, plus targeted training – like the Novogradac trainings and financial modeling and underwriting coursework I mentioned earlier. Really, I think the fellowship has the ability to make a great impact on a professional’s life.
Since we are talking about the CDFI industry, I think the ideal candidate would be someone who is interested in building up communities – even if they don’t know a ton about the industry. I think the technical side of the job can be taught, but at their core, anyone who wants to participate should care about communities and about building them up. I think those are the kind of people who would thrive during and after the fellowship.
Alba — we’re so grateful for all of the contributions you made to our Asset Management team this summer! Best of luck in all your future endeavors!