Some of the biggest names in finance and real estate were cheered by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce this week in its annual “Pacesetter” awards, that call out firms working to diversify their supplier spending to include minority-owned companies.
TD Bank’s latest “community impact plan” will see $10 billion worth of residential lending towards low- and moderate-income borrowers and minority borrowers focused on six cities in the bank’s 15-state footprint.
Lending to minority-owned small businesses is increasing rapidly in Massachusetts, as some local bankers and federal officials work to level the playing field.
On top of the grant, the bank will also provide mentorship to minority entrepreneurs, as well as small businesses underwriting training for the Cambridge Equity Fund task force.
The real estate development industry has the power to change lives. Unfortunately, most of our industry is still operating with an “old playbook,” one that prioritizes financial benefit at the expense of social benefit.
PNC Bank has launched a minority business development group that the bank said will provide products and resources to support the financial wellness of emerging minority businesses.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has named Segun Idowu, a leading voice for equity in Boston’s business community, to be her administration’s top economic development official.
The diversity of the development teams vying for a piece of state-owned land in downtown Boston is something to be celebrated. But it also gives lie to the old saw that it’s “too hard to find” diverse firms to partner with.
Thousands of minority-owned small businesses were at the end of the line in the government’s coronavirus relief program as many struggled to find banks that would accept their applications or were disadvantaged by the terms of the program.
As banks grapple with the ways the banking industry has contributed to longstanding racial inequalities, minority business advocates say traditional lenders also have an opportunity to both grow their businesses and help close the racial wealth gap.
Just as uncertainty has marked each stage of the Paycheck Protection Program – from features changing right before launch to system problems in the second round – community banks face another unknown with the program: its effect on bank finances in the coming months.
A statewide coalition of community development corporations, lenders and community groups is calling on state leaders to create a rescue package for small businesses left out of the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
Two of the biggest names in Greater Boston development are joining with two of the region’s biggest community banks to support a $10 million effort to give free bridge loans to Black- and Latino-owned businesses struggling in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Baker administration has filed legislation to raise the threshold at which public entities are required to bid out contracts, in the hope that it will help more minority- and women-owned construction firms get a slice of the stat’s construction spending pie.
Two banks have joined an advisory council established by Boston Mayor Marty Walsh as part of a push to diversify the businesses who supply the city of Boston’s many departments with goods and services.
The number of small business loan originations and total volume in minority areas in Massachusetts in 2016 was the highest it’s been in nearly a decade. But both of those categories still only make up less than 10 percent of all Community Reinvestment Act loans issued in the commonwealth in 2016.
