Additional $100 million already pledged to continue support; latest funding serves rural and urban communities in Nebraska, California, New York and more
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wells
Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) announced it has exceeded its
initial $75 million commitment for the Wells
Fargo Works for Small Business: Diverse Community Capital program
by awarding $13 million in lending capital and grants to 19 Community
Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in the latest round of the
program. The CDFIs, which are nonprofit financial institutions, use the
funds to deliver affordable financial products to diverse small business
owners who do not typically have access to conventional financing.
Wells Fargo previously announced that the program will continue at least
into 2020 through an additional $100 million commitment from the Wells
Fargo Foundation, based on the program’s early success.
With the latest round of funding, the program aims to be even more
inclusive of rural communities in addition to urban neighborhoods.
Organizations serving rural counties in South Carolina, Maryland,
Nebraska, Georgia and California will receive funding, as well as CDFIs
serving urban centers such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York
and Chicago.
“Rural small businesses and their diverse owners have different
challenges than their urban counterparts, and we want to be part of a
solution that helps remove those obstacles to growth,” said Mike Rizer,
director of Community Relations at Wells Fargo. “The range of
geographies served by these awardees demonstrates Wells Fargo’s
commitment to supporting communities across the country, regardless of
our retail presence. Small business owners who would not otherwise have
access to the resources needed to start or grow their businesses will
now have resources through the CDFIs we are supporting.”
The latest Diverse Community Capital recipients are:
-
Valley
Small Business Development Corporation – Fresno, California
-
Women’s
Economic Ventures – Santa Barbara, California
-
Colorado
Enterprise Fund – Denver
-
First
State Community Loan Fund – Wilmington, Delaware
-
City
First Enterprises – Washington, D.C.
-
Washington
Area Community Investment Fund – Washington, D.C.
-
Southwest
Georgia United Empowerment Zone – Cordele, Georgia
-
Chicago
Neighborhood Initiatives Micro Finance Group – Chicago
-
Maryland
Capital Enterprises – Salisbury, Maryland
-
Northwest
Minnesota Foundation – Bemidji, Minnesota
-
Native360
Loan Fund – Grand Island, Nebraska
-
Rural
Investment Corporation – Lyons, Nebraska
-
Excelsior
Growth Fund – Albany, New York
-
Grameen
America – New York, New York
-
The
Enterprise Center Capital Corporation – Philadelphia
-
West
Philadelphia Financial Services Institution – Philadelphia
-
Women’s
Opportunities Resource Center – Philadelphia
-
Beaufort
County Black Chamber of Commerce – Beaufort, South Carolina
-
BCL
of Texas – Austin, Texas
The Diverse Community Capital program is a collaboration between Wells
Fargo and Opportunity
Finance Network, a national network of CDFIs. Opportunity Finance
Network offers a social capital component of the program, which focuses
on helping CDFIs grow stronger through activities including in-person
networking, mentorship, consulting and peer learning.
According to Opportunity Finance Network, Diverse Community Capital
awardees have closed more than $391 million through more than 8,000
loans to diverse small business clients. Diverse small businesses that
received loans from awardee CDFIs have retained more than 21,000 jobs
and created more than 15,000 jobs as a result of accessing the capital
and development services they needed.
About Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based
financial services company with $1.9 trillion in assets. Wells Fargo’s
vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them
succeed financially. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco,
Wells Fargo provides banking, investment and mortgage products and
services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through 7,950
locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile
banking, and has offices in 37 countries and territories to support
customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately
262,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the
United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 26 on Fortune’s 2018
rankings of America’s largest corporations. News, insights and
perspectives from Wells Fargo are also available at Wells
Fargo Stories.