U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has announced $1.73 billion in grants have been awarded to for more than 600 community lenders that support small businesses and entrepreneurs in financially underserved communities across the nation.
Harris unveiled the grants Monday during a teleconference call with reporters, stating the funds will go to 603 community development financial institutions through the CDFI Equitable Recovery Program, which seeks to aid low- and moderate-income communities disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program was designed to provide CDFIs with funds to expand lending, grant making and investment activities in these hard-hit communities, with aims to help borrowers, in particular minorities, who have “significant unmet capital and financial services needs,” according to a government factsheet.
“Across our nation, there are entrepreneurs and small-business owners with big plans and a vision for the future — folks who want to build a brand, buy inventory, invest in online ads and hire more workers, but who cannot because they simply don’t have access to the capital or financial services they need,” Harris told reporters Monday during the teleconference.
For some, these challenges are even more substantial, she said, stating Black entrepreneurs are three times more likely to say they did not apply for a loan from fear of being turned away, while Latino entrepreneurs received less than 1% of funds from top venture capital and private equity firms despite accounting for 25% of new business owners.
Some Asian businesses owners facing language barriers tend to have limited access to capital and banking services, while rural residents, including Native Americas, often lack access to traditional financial services, she continued.
“These banks predominantly do business in overlooked and underserved communities. They know these communities. They understand these communities. And in particular, most importantly, they know and see the capacity of these communities.”
According to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, the investment unveiled Monday represents that largest CDFI grant program in history.
“These grants will be transformative for grantees that are building a more equitable, resilient economy along with helping sustain our strong economic recovery,” Yellen said Monday in a statement. “These critical resources will allow mission-driven lenders to expand access to capital in financially underserved communities, which will help increase contributions to long-term economic growth.”
U.S. Treasury officials said institutions that were awarded grants include banks, holding companies and credit unions as well as non-depository loan funds and venture funds.
Among recipients highlighted by Harris during the call included Liberty Financial Services, which is part of Liberty Bank, one of the largest Black-owned U.S. financial institutions; Pennsylvania’s Community First Fund, which mostly lends to businesses owned by people of color; and Mississippi’s BankPlus, which serves rural communities.
“It is also important to note that community lenders do so much more than support small businesses,” Harris said. “They also provide home loans for families, financial services for local nonprofits and capital for community organizations.”
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“Are you going to believe me, the corrupt, dishonest, immoral, puppet president Joe Biden or your lying eyes?”
As for This Woke, Democrat Party’s fantasy that it’s the Republicans who are obsessed with race, maybe they should be reminded of who’s pushing, reparation, Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project, rubbing salt into racial wounds daily, and promoting the fiction that the greatest threat to the republic is “white supremacy.”
With how many BILLIONS WE’ve fed into these bloody ‘communities’ for DECADES.. How in gods name, can anyone still claim they are ‘underserved’???
The federal government has prioritized Minorities since the 1960’s . The city of Augusta Georgia has been Revitalizing the hood for the last 20 years and nothing has changed. Underserved is a lie.!!
This is how we got the 2006-2009 Mortgage Debacle by making bad loans to people who did not qualify.
That too was primarily a Democratic push, and bush 43 and the R’s did not have the balls to say NO, and I mean Heck NO!
Because the GOP for decades have been filled with nothing but cowards.. And unfortunately the current crop, though it seems to have some with real bark.. I wonder, DO THEY HAVE THE BITE To back that bark up with?
Once we’ve figured out how much who “owes” whom for “reparations”, can we please subtract the value of these past ~50 years of handouts and preferential treatment, forgive the difference, and move on?