Wells Fargo Sparks Diverse Small Business Growth Across U.S. by Fulfilling $75 Million Lending and Grant Commitment
December 06 2018 - 10:00AM
Business Wire
Additional $100 million already pledged to continue support;
latest funding serves rural and urban communities in Nebraska,
California, New York and more
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.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181206005264/en/
MediaBeth Richek,
704-374-2545Beth.Richek@wellsfargo.com@BethRichekWForKim Erlichson,
201-463-4243Kim.Erlichson@wellsfargo.com
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