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New Loan Fund to Boost Minority Entrepreneurs
2019
With funding from JPMorgan Chase and the A. James & Alice B. Clark Foundation, Capital Impact was tasked with launching the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund in Washington, D.C. Together with our lending partners, including the Washington Area Community Investment Fund, the Latino Economic Development Council and Harbor Bank of Maryland, we are helping minority entrepreneurs get access to low-cost loans to jumpstart their enterprises.
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Op-Ed: Battling Inequity in Food Systems with Entrepreneurship
Communities of color have fewer opportunities in the food economy than whites, resulting in a variety of detrimental impacts, including illness and exacerbation of the racial wealth gap. In this Op-Ed, Capital Impact’s Olivia Rebenal explores how historical inequities have created this situation. She also illustrates a variety of promising initiatives that are being employed to unleash the power of minority entrepreneurs.
The Making of an Equitable Community Development Loan Product
Over our years of working in Detroit, we have provided more than $200 million in financing to support projects that deliver social impact. However, we also learned that a majority of that financing went to white developers despite the city’s population being 79 percent black. This article describes how Capital Impact, with a grant from the CDFI Fund, is working to create a new loan product that will support a more equitable distribution of its financing efforts.
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Why this Nonprofit Lender is Shifting its Focus to Detroit’s Neighborhoods
When Capital Impact began working in Detroit in the early 2010s, its focus was to grow density in the urban core of the city with a focus on supporting communities of color. While that work continues, this article explores our strategy to move out into the surrounding neighborhoods to help stabilize and grow those communities.
A Black-led Food Co-op Grows in Detroit
Through its Michigan Good Food Fund, Capital Impact invests in high-impact food projects and provides technical assistance across the state. As Olivia Rebanal, Capital Impact’s Director of Inclusive Food Systems, notes in the article, “we prioritize our work with food cooperatives because we feel the model allows for the creation of quality jobs.” One such investment includes support for the Detroit People’s Food Co-op, an African-American business cooperative.
NMTC Giving Meals on Wheels San Francisco Room to Grow
New Markets Tax Credit, a program of the U.S. Treasury’s CDFI Fund, is designed to help attract private capital to support community development efforts. This article illustrates how Capital Impact used NMTCs to facilitate the financing of a Meals on Wheels kitchen in San Francisco—even though it is one of the most expensive U.S. cities in which to build. This support will help the program provide more than two million meals to needy residents.
CDFIs are Filling Lending Gaps in Local Financial and Community Development Systems
From automobile lending to small-business support to large-scale projects, Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) are having a range of impact across Michigan. In this educational piece about the sector, Capital Impact’s work is recognized for helping to create density and promote economic viability in Detroit as well as other communities, including Flint.
These programs are training Detroit’s minority residents in development
October 2018
For many entry-level African-American real estate developers, getting a foot in the door can be difficult, with limited opportunities to gain experience and obtain capital. Organizations see this lack of representation as a major gap, particularly given that community perspectives and experience can shape cities to grow more inclusively. Model D looks at how two key programs, including our Equitable Development Initiative, are working to bridge that gap.
What Millions of Retiring Small Business Owners Could Mean for Cities
September 2018
Baby Boomers own the majority of small businesses, but only 17 percent of them have a formal exit plan for when they want to retire. When you consider that small businesses provide the vast majority of employment within low-income urban areas, there is a unique opportunity to benefit these communities by turning these workers into owners using the co-op model. Next City takes a deep dive into this issue based on a “co-op conversion” report recently issued by Capital Impact.
