November 30, 2021 (Arlington, VA, San Francisco, CA, San Diego, CA) – Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance announced a $1.5 million grant from Wells Fargo to launch an initiative focused on providing targeted business training services to small real estate developers and entrepreneurs. The grant will also help accelerate re-development efforts in D.C. and the Delta through a focus on small real estate development businesses and other industries that bring needed housing, amenities and jobs. The funding is made possible through Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fund, a roughly $420 million small business recovery effort across the U.S to help small business owners recover and emerge from the pandemic even stronger and more resilient.
Led by Capital Impact, the initiative will provide technical assistance (TA) to small businesses in Washington, D.C. and the Mississippi Delta in collaboration with CDC Small Business Finance, City First Enterprises, Hope Enterprises, and the Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif). The collaborative will serve a variety of sectors including social services, professional services, and food retail and distribution, and will also support real estate developers, with a focus on graduates of Capital Impact Partners’ EDI program.
“We are thrilled to have the leadership and support of Wells Fargo and their Open for Business program as we work with these incredible entrepreneurs to surface the solutions they need to help their communities thrive,” said Ellis Carr, president and CEO of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance.
“The Open for Business Fund enlists the care and expertise of organizations like Capital Impact Partners to urgently assist the small business community and to help navigate entrepreneurs back to growth,” said Anna Bard, Senior Vice President, Social Impact and Sustainability at Wells Fargo. “Small business owners inspire us with their resilience. It is incumbent on all of us to help enable an economic recovery for these entrepreneurs and the neighborhoods they support.”
The support from Wells Fargo’s Open for Business program is a key investment. For small businesses facing financial hardships and other business challenges, having access to trusted experts to help grow their businesses and realize locally led solutions is critical to getting back to growth.
While Capital Impact Partners will manage the overall program, CDC Small Business Finance will deliver TA and create specialized curriculum for Washington, D.C. metropolitan area participants and alumni of Capital Impact Partners’ EDI program.
They will also lead knowledge sharing with City First Enterprises, Hope Enterprises, and Wacif, for entrepreneurs in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan region as well as the Mississippi Delta on the following initiatives:
- City First Enterprise will launch a formal small business TA program including hiring two business advisors. Training will include modules such as credit repair that will help small businesses recover from the impacts of the economic crisis.
- Hope Community Enterprises will scale and improve efficiencies to their SBA lending with a focus on using the Community Advantage Program to serve entrepreneurs in the rural Deep South.
- Wacif will provide legacy businesses interested in employee ownership with technical assistance including individualized growth plans, technology, marketing, and financing.
In turn, CDC will learn more about how to utilize their deep community experience of each of these organizations to support the tailored needs of entrepreneurs in these geographic regions.
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About Capital Impact Partners
Capital Impact Partners, part of the Momentus Capital branded family of organizations, is transforming how capital and investments flow into communities to provide people with access to the capital and opportunities they deserve. As one of the nation’s leading mission-driven Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs), we help build strong communities and create generational wealth by deploying mission-driven financing, capacity-building programs, and impact investing opportunities.
Capital Impact Partners offers flexible financing for catalytic mission-aligned projects in four primary sectors: increasing access to health care, education, affordable housing, and healthy food.
In addition, we manage several multi-year initiatives in key regions to support emerging developers, small business owners, cooperatives, and community health enterprises through training, professional networks, access to experts and mentors, and pathways to grants and loan capital.
Capital Impact Partners has disbursed more than $3 billion since 1982 to create access to critical social services, grow entrepreneurs, and create quality jobs. Capital Impact Partners’ leadership in delivering financial and social impact has resulted in the organization being rated by S&P Global and Fitch Ratings and recognized by Aeris for its performance.
The Momentus Capital branded family of organizations refers to the combined operations of Capital Impact Partners and CDC Small Business Finance, as well as their affiliates, Momentus Direct Capital and Momentus Securities (an SEC-registered broker-dealer, MSRB-registered, FINRA/SIPC member). While each organization under the Momentus Capital brand still operates as a separate entity, their clients will now have access to more resources and products.
With headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, and San Diego, California, Momentus Capital operates nationally with a focus on larger urban areas and cities in Arizona, California, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Texas, and the Washington D.C. metro area.
Learn more at capitalimpact.org and momentuscap.org.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets, proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the U.S., and is the leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 37 on Fortune’s 2021 rankings of America’s largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health, and a low-carbon economy. News, insights, and perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells Fargo Stories.
