Wells Fargo Awards $2.35 Million For Community Development
Grantees Riverworks, WWBIC and FACC will support minority and women entrepreneurs.
Wells Fargo. Photo by Christopher Hillard.
Wells Fargo has awarded $2.35 million to three Wisconsin nonprofits and community development financial institutions (CDFIs) as part of its Open for Business Fund.
The grant recipients will use the grants to provide women, Native American and minority-owned small businesses with resources that will help them grow, according to a press release.
“We need to help small businesses get back to growing again,” said Tony Nguyen, Wells Fargo Wisconsin region bank president in a statement. “Having access to trusted experts can be a critical turning point for small business owners facing financial hardships and other business challenges.”
The Open for Business Fund supports CDFIs and nonprofits to help businesses withstand the economic impact of COVID-19. It focuses on Black, Latino, Asian American, American Indian and Alaska Native entrepreneurs, according to its website.
Wells Fargo created the fund in 2020 using processing fees from its Paycheck Protection Program loans.
The fund is projected to serve over 148,000 small businesses, and has already provided support to a wide range of grant recipients.
“The funds will allow us to build our infrastructure — with providing capital and technical assistance to minority-owned small businesses as a way to create local jobs and strengthen neighborhoods,” said WWBIC president Wendy Baumann in the release.
Riverworks will use the funding to expand its technical assistance offerings to businesses and entrepreneurs in Harambee, Riverwest and other surrounding neighborhoods.
“This allows us to serve the residents in communities from humble beginnings, without a business network or the net worth to start up or compete with businesses who have mentors and capital,” said Riverworks executive director Darryl Johnson. “Because of Wells Fargo‘s funding, we can create a more equitable growth environment for Black and brown entrepreneurs who have the vision and passion to start their own businesses, and build family wealth for future generations.”
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How is it legal for banks in the year 2022 to still discriminate against against a business owners color of skin or sex they were born as? I thought as a country we had moved past this type of discrimination 50 years ago.