Finance Justice Fund Reaches $100 Million in Capital Deployed to OFN Member CDFIs
Caroline Valvardi
OFN is pleased to announce the latest Finance Justice Fund recipients. This most recent funding marks $100 million deployed to OFN member CDFIs across the country. As of February 28, 2022, OFN has closed 38 loans totaling $96.6 million and disbursed 33 grants totaling $6.2 million to member CDFIs.
With support from Finance Justice Fund partners, including Twitter, Wells Fargo, Truist, Focusing Philanthropy, MacArthur Foundation, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and JPMorgan, the Finance Justice Fund aims to bring $1 billion in long-term, flexible capital to CDFIs to address longstanding disinvestment issues, the racial wealth gap, and persistent poverty nationwide.
We congratulate the following Finance Justice Fund recipients:
- Black Vision Fund (BVF) approves and invests grants and loans in Expanding Black Business Credit (EBBC) member CDFIs that will then provide financing specifically to Black-owned small businesses.
- City First Enterprises is a financial institution working at the intersection of financial innovation and impact investment, in the quest for a more equitable economy.
- Economic and Community Development Institute, Inc. (ECDI) is fiercely dedicated to assuring every entrepreneur – regardless of where they came from, where they live, their gender or their race – has access to funding and the business mentoring services they need to build a small business that thrives.
- GROW South Dakota is a statewide nonprofit organization that provides programs and loan products to advance housing, community, and economic development across the state.
- Housing Partnership Fund serves nonprofit developers focused solely on uplifting low-income populations, using housing as a platform to leverage better health, school, and personal wealth building outcomes nationally.
- Indian Land Capital Company is a Native-owned, certified Native CDFI providing alternative loan options to Native Nations for tribal land acquisition projects.
- NeighborWorks Columbus promotes and provides access to fit and affordable housing and builds assets for financial independence for all citizens of low to moderate income in Georgia and Alabama.
Visit OFN’s website to see the full list of CDFIs that have received Finance Justice Fund loans and grants to date.
Launched in November 2020 with a $100 million investment from Twitter, the Finance Justice Fund aims to bring more than $1 billion in long-term, flexible capital from corporate and philanthropic partners to CDFIs to address longstanding disinvestment issues, the racial wealth gap, and persistent poverty nationwide.
In June 2021, Wells Fargo joined Twitter as a philanthropic supporter of the Fund with a $25 million grant, followed by an announcement of $23 million committed by Truist, Focusing Philanthropy, MacArthur Foundation, and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Most recently, JPMorgan Chase committed a $20 million debt investment and a $2.4 million grant.
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Corporations and philanthropies interested in investing in the Finance Justice Fund, please contact Beth Lipson, CFO at OFN.
CDFIs interested in learning more about the Finance Justice Fund, visit OFN’s Finance Justice Fund page or contact Lisa Wright, senior vice president of financial services.
Photo: Javier Olvera, owner of Supermercado Mexico in Grand Rapids, MI (supported with funding from Finance Justice Fund recipient Northern Initiatives)