User login
Language
Anonymous's groups in this site
User is not a member of any group.
Your groups across all your sites
User is not a member of any group.
Recent Content
Who's online
There are currently 0 users online.
You are here
U.S. officials announce $1.25 billion for hundreds of small lenders to boost Covid recovery
Primary tabs
Vice President Kamala Harris and Sec. Janet Yellen announced the Biden administration will award $1.25 billion to hundreds of small community lenders. It's a part of funding passed in last year’s coronavirus relief bill on Tuesday, in the South Court Auditorium.
In remarks, Harris argued that funding Community Development Financial Institutions that service minority and women owned businesses is an essential factor in rebuilding the economy from the pandemic. The money will be distributed through the newly created Rapid Recovery Program to 836 lenders and is just a small portion of the full $12 billion passed last December for CDFI’s and MDI’s.
“Right now, small business owners don’t just need relief, they need access to capital,” Harris said. “And here's the truth traditional banks have not always seen or understood the vision of women small business owners, small business owners of color, small business owners who serve low-income communities. Sometimes their vision is something… outside of the experience of the big banks understand and see. Community lenders on the other hand, were founded to see that vision, to get it.”
This announcement fits into the larger narrative of one of Harris’ focuses as vice president, CNN has previously reported, focusing on small businesses—particularly minority and women-owned businesses—and trying to help small lenders obtain access to capital.
Harris said in the last month she had been in “direct contact,” with a multitude of active community lenders in different areas including rural, tribal, urban and low-income. And Harris added when she hosted Tulsa Race Massacre survivors at the White House last month, she also spoke of the need for capital.
For her part, Sec. Yellen said the US is missing out on growth because of lack of unequal lending, arguing that this effort seeks to offset that.
“When I started studying economics in 1963, the average black family owned 15% of what the average white family owned, and that number hasn't changed in half a century. It's as close to a constant as we come in economic data,” Yellen said, calling it both an “unfair” and “unhealthy” aspect of the US economy.
“We, as a country, are missing out on so many venues for growth, because their capital is bottlenecked by race and region," she added.
Recent Comments