Just Economy Conference – May 6, 2021
Speakers:
- Marisa Calderon, Executive Director, CDFI and Chief, Community Finance and Mobility, NCRC
- Gigi Dixon, Executive Vice-President, Head of External Engagement Diverse Segments, Representation and Inclusion, Wells Fargo
- Tene Dolphin, Operations and Strategy Lead, Small Business Growth Philanthropy, Wells Fargo
- Megan Teare, Managing Director, Community Lending and Investments, Wells Fargo
Transcript
NCRC video transcripts are produced by a third-party transcription service and may contain errors. They are lightly edited for style and clarity.
Dixon 01:09
Good afternoon, this is Gigi Dixon, and welcome to, “Open for business: The critical role of bank and CDFI partnerships in reaching diverse communities.” Entrepreneurs of color are driving US small business formation. With wide growth at a rate of faster than 10% or 10 times faster than that of the US Small Business overall, they generate 1.4 million trillion in revenue and employ more than 7 million people helping to fuel the economy. These small businesses represent nearly 30% of all US Small businesses. And they are disproportionately represented in the industries hit hardest by the covid 19 pandemic. This session highlights a benchmark approach excuse me in banking, CDF II and also helping these businesses. So we have a wonderful panel today that we’d like to get started with. And with that, if you can bring up the panel. First on the panel is Megan Teare, Senior Vice President of community lending and investments with Wells Fargo. Megan, you will explain a little bit about yourself and what you do as we get through the conversation, as will the other panelists. Secondly, we have Tene Dolphin, operations and strategy lead for small business growth philanthropy at Wells Fargo, and thirdly, we have Marisa Calderon, Executive Director of NCRC Community Development Fund and chief of community finance and mobility. Welcome, ladies. Welcome to this conversation today. Thank you.
All 03:02
Thank you.
Dixon 03:05
And so we’ll jump right in because we we’ve got a lot to talk about. And I think the topic is extremely important when you consider the disproportionate impact on businesses, minority owned businesses, and communities of color during the pandemic. I wanted to just give you some general things to respond to, as we get started in the conversation. So let’s start out making with a definition of CDFI. A lot of people hear that term, we’ve seen lots of support directed towards CDFI. And you know, what does it mean? And what has it been created to do?
Teare 03:50
Great question, Gigi. And thanks for kicking us off with that question. And it’s great to be here with some really, very experienced Community Development practitioners. So CDFI, we throw that acronym around a lot. It stands for community development financial institution, as I’m sure many of you know, it is a designation that is given by the CDFI Fund at the Department of Treasury Treasury to mission focused financial institutions. And we often think of CDFIs as being nonprofit lenders. But there are banks and credit unions and even venture capital funds that can be designated as CDFIs. So it’s a whole ecosystem of mission focused lenders working in communities, and doing real estate deals and small business lending, which is what we’re really focused on here today, in ways and places that mainstream financial institutions cannot always reach.
Dixon 04:50
Very good. And so how did the CDFIs work directly with banks Megan?
Teare 04:57
Also a great question Gigi, and I was thinking about it before this panel. And really I think NCRC has played a tremendous role in building those partnerships, through emphasizing the Community Reinvestment Act. A lot of banks have gone to working with CDFIs as one of their main ways to work with communities, CDFIs are really like sisters or cousins, I would say to banks, you know, they’re doing they are a financial institution, as I said, they’re doing a lot of the same things. It’s a natural extension of a more traditional financial institution. And they’re also they’ve performed incredibly well over the many, many years, 4050 years they’ve been around. So for example, my job and their people, like me at many other banks, is to invest in CDFIs. And to give them loan capital, that they pulled together from various institutions, banks, foundations, individuals, religious institutions, etc. to create their pool of capital for the type of lending that they’re doing. So it’s increasingly common, that banks are investing in CDFIs. And I really think we have NCRC to thank, for that, in part for really pushing on that and making sure it becomes really a mainstream activity.
Dixon 06:20
Absolutely. And so you’re speaking of NCRC, let’s move to Marisa Calderon. Marisa, tell us a little bit about the CDFI of NCRC. But first, tell us a little bit about yourself since we’re not doing formal introductions today.
Calderon 06:38
Sure. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, so I hold really two roles in the NCRC family and ecosystem. I as you mentioned, I’m executive director of the CDFI, which is a subsidiary of NCRC. And at CDFI, we focus really on two main components. And that is homeowners based, and that by, you know, sourcing funds help us to fuel through a partner organization, which is growth. And work is specifically focused on building affordable homes for communities, underserved communities, oftentimes black and brown community communities. And that work presently is done across 17 different cities, mostly primarily along the the East Coast, out through to Louisiana and into Illinois and Chicago. So really great, important work that’s formative for wealth building, and also focus on small business. And our small business is both direct lending to individuals from a micro lending perspective. 1000 below, as well as through investments that we are making and to be able to provide more liquidity to small businesses. And this is really focused nationwide from a small business perspective. And Pat, for NCRC is, as as you mentioned, community finance and mobility, which is really a whole host of things that allow for economic mobility for underserved communities, including some work, it’s focused on workforce development, and snap, affordable homeownership, all of which I’m certainly very passionate about personally. And frankly, the work that we do through the CDFI has been fueled through the partnerships, that we have things, and most especially with Wells Fargo, sort of kinds of engagements that Megan described. And what most folks may not fully know is that the banks fuel almost 40% of the funding that CDFIs receive. So they’re a really critical partner in providing liquidity to CDFIs, to reach communities where they are, which is kind of the sweet spot of what city advisors do. If I think you may, we may have lost your audio there.
Dixon 09:10
Thanks very much. Lost the audio, the phone rang, you know, the dogs were barking earlier. It’s just wonderful working from home in this pandemic environment. And on that note today, tell us a little bit about what’s going on in Birmingham. What have you been doing since the pandemic? Tell us a little bit about that?
Dolphin 09:30
Well, you know, thanks, Gigi, and you all just met my son who made a cameo appearance and who could make another appearance before this panel is over. Um, but Gigi, I thank you so much for having us on the panel today. But you know, I started last year in Birmingham, Alabama working for the city of Birmingham and the Office of business diversity and opportunity and then made my way in a pandemic back to Washington DC and started a great career with will Fargo but, but when I was in Birmingham and that pandemic hit, you know, it was it was interesting to be on the ground in that way. Right before we shut the city down and the entire world shut down, we had a quick meeting to say that we needed to figure out capital resources right away, we went to our community partners. In fact, one of the community partners that we went to was Bob Dickerson of the Birmingham Business Resource Center, who we partnered with after raising initial capital, and partner with him to make those loans really quickly to our small businesses. But we could not have done that without the anchor institutions, including the financial institutions in Birmingham, Alabama. But it really allowed me to see rather quickly, the difficulties that the small businesses were facing getting to the resources provided not only the resources that the city provided, but that federal government provided that anyone was able to deploy. And so it required the ecosystem to also work together in a way that it had never worked together. And I was really, really proud that the city, the ecosystem, the CDFIs, everyone joined together for weekly calls to understand what the initial issues were, what the long term concerns were going to be, what the deep rooted issues were that were surfacing, and that we all know now, but how we could tactically address those issues together. Normally, when you’re fighting for space, and money and funding, you don’t work and you don’t sit at the table together. But the pandemic on our need to support our small businesses brought us together in an unprecedent way. And I was really, really proud of the work that the ecosystem and Birmingham did. But now taking all of that and bringing it to Wells Fargo, I’ve been really, really pleased with how Wells Fargo did something similar in terms of getting right out the gate and supporting small businesses. Back home.
Dixon 12:03
That’s a great tip and audience, I just wanted to be really transparent that we’re trying to mute ourselves while we’re not talking so that you don’t hear a lot of background noise. So forgive us. If especially me, I forget to unmute before we come back. But I do. I’m so glad that all of the great work is happening in Birmingham as it is and in all the major cities with our partners who are represented even on this particular panel and in the audience today. But today, just kind of moving forward on what you’re doing with Wells Fargo and how Wells Fargo approached. You know, this dilemma for communities and for small businesses. Talk a little bit about that, if you don’t mind about the open for business fund.
Dolphin 12:49
Absolutely. Thanks. Wells Fargo jumped in right away, looking at their PPP fees and deciding very early on before many others to donate over $400 million in fees. Back to the small business community. Wells Fargo historically had already been working with city CDFIs. And so building upon not only the work that they’d already done, but knowing that CDFIs are the first responders, right, I’m really able feet on the ground, understanding the small businesses in the needs supported with more than $250 million towards CDFI funding, allowing CDFIs to build capacity, get money out of the door, and to continue to help they because we’re not out of the woods yet. But the rest of that 400 million again, I really love the thoughtfulness and how open for business. And I’m sorry, if I didn’t name it, we call it the open for business fund. So the open for business fund started with the CDFI phase. But the next phase was technical assistance. It is critical that small businesses get elevated technical assistance as they continue to have to figure out the pivot, what the new markets are going to be, what this new economy is going to look like and what the needs are from technical assistance on technology and in getting online and working from home. But understanding how their customer bases are going to change and so $50 million of that open for business fund was dedicated to technical assistance. And finally, the third phase is really Wells Fargo’s thoughtfulness in looking at the long term deep rooted needs that are that resulted or were exacerbated by this pandemic and that’s our recovery and resiliency phase. That hasn’t launched yet. We will launch in a couple of months and we’re super excited about that but that would allow was to really go deep into some of the things that small businesses need beyond the immediate cash and the technical assistance. And so we’re just really happy that we’re learning a lot from that, gaining a lot of information. And I think it’s going to be information that will feed the ecosystem zeroed out, in terms of what works, what doesn’t, and what else is needed to be catalytic in our investments.
Dixon 15:28
Very good, very good. It’s, it’s interesting to see the three phases and to really understand that it is a process first, just to kind of stave the loss, trying to stop the loss and the potential loss, then to try to sustain, sustain and start to, you know, make sure that all of the technical assistance is there, so that you can reach resiliency and start growth, as this pandemic lifts, and we get back in business. And you know, we’re truly staying open for business with the fun love the name of it, to be honest, I was very proud of that. But you know, just just just the idea that the businesses were able to remain open. But really, as we come out of the pandemic, through these types of assistance that NCRC is providing for small business that this fund is provided, then we can really hit the ground and truly be open for business, I can’t wait until I can go back in a restaurant and feel safe eating inside. Because I’m not a real eat outside kind of person. In the south, we have pests that like to join you for dinner outside. But, but I’m looking forward to that.
Dolphin 16:43
Gigi, I failed to mention that, you know, and we may get to this a little later. But because we funded folks all over the country, I think it’s important for this audience to know that there is probably a CDFI or an ecosystem partner that is available to help you. And if you’re going to go to wellsfargo.com backslash together, you can get to the grant T’s at least grantees that we’ve supported thus far, and there’s more in the pipeline. But I just want to encourage everybody to visit wellsfargo.com together to see those grantees automate.
Dixon 17:20
Thanks for adding that information, I definitely was going to issue a call to action at the end of this conversation. And I’ll still do that. So you’ll have another opportunity to say just what you said, I think the repetition is a good thing when we’re trying to help people get to a place where there’s help waiting for them, or some insight and information that they can share more broadly. So businesses that need the help can get the help. So I’m going to jump back over to Marisa for just a moment. And Marisa, in addition to low or no cost capital, what other tools do CDFIs provide to small businesses to help their business reach or maintain sustainability and ultimately thrive? We talked a little bit about the stages of open for business. But let’s talk about in general, what the CDFIs provide.
Calderon 18:14
Yeah, no, that’s a really great question. Thank you for asking that. One of the things that CDFIs, I think are especially good at, and part of it is because of how they’re structured, are providing development services. For us that comes in the form of technical assistance. And, because CDFIs are in this space, where they are often very acutely aware of the needs of the communities that they serve, and they have the cultural competencies to be able to serve those communities, they tend to be very good at providing those services, not just kind of general basic small business training, but something that really meets those entrepreneurs where they are in terms of how they run their lives. You know, how they operate their businesses, as people from the particular community that they come from, I sometimes joke that I’ve been looking at all my life. So this is my lens, I approach the world through this lens, because that’s what I know. And that’s really the case for all of us, we bring with us that experience that is maybe different than the person next to us. And that is an enriching experience in terms of how we bring that to work and in develop the products that we ultimately use to serve our customers that NCRC were in the process of developing a really comprehensive small business ta package that includes mentorship component, and that is industry specific, and that we’re getting ready to launch later this year. And frankly, for all of the folks that receive funding from our programs, they will be paired with this training process and provided with an industry specific mentor that helps them to really get to a point where they not just have business fundamentals, but that they can grow their business in a way that, you know, provides the kind of scalability that they’d like that is sustainable for the type of business that they’re in. And that also helps to build their professional network. Because that that social capital deficit frequently that is felt by entrepreneurs is, especially in the black and brown community, is something that we’re really trying to intentionally help to solve for.
Dixon 20:29
I think that’s really interesting, or is that you’ve got this follow through, so that you’re creating an even stronger sense of sustainability for the business owners and for their business? That’s pretty phenomenal stuff. And on the same, I think on the same topic there in a sense. Megan, tell us a little bit about, you know, where we see successful CDFI in terms of their outreach, and how they are removing barriers for these small businesses. Tell us a little bit about that. How do you see if I was removed barriers?
Teare 21:09
Well, a lot of it is around that technical assistance or development services that Marisa was talking about. And, and really, um, they’re CDFIs, I think of as as very high touch, you know, financial institutions. And so for example, some of the funding that’s been provided by the Wells Fargo grants, includes the ability for CDFIs to hire outreach officers or you know, business development officers that are from the communities they’re trying to serve or look like the communities they’re trying to serve. So that there’s a really intentional outreach strategy there. I would also add that the grants from our foundation have intentionally been structured as very flexible, so that CDFIs can use the money for any number of things. CDFIs are generally reliant on grants, that’s just their their business model. And that’s fine. You know, they’re covering the costs of things like those outreach officers, they’re covering the cost of a loan loss reserve. They are covering the cost of of getting new technology, for example. And so one of the things I really wanted to highlight which Marisa you may be able to speak about several of the grants that we’ve made, have been in support of expanding technology at CDFIs. And I think the industry is at a really interesting moment in time where it’s getting a lot of attention, which is great from funders and policymakers and and, you know, other parts of the ecosystem, as you say today. But they are they’re very, you know, boutique in a way, right? Because they are so hands on. And they’re also though trying to kind of maintain that high touch and, but also become more efficient and grow and scale. And technology is one of the ways that they’re doing that. So I think it’s a moment in time, as I say, where the industry is really going to take off even more than it has, and we’re so not to put you on the spot. But I thought, I know that that’s one thing that the NCRC CDFI is looking at. So I want to know if you wanted to speak about that.
Calderon 23:24
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I often say that, like we can be high touch and high tech, they’re not mutually exclusive. And if you think about the communities, certainly that we are most black and brown communities, these are communities that are more youthful, that the already more connected to their smartphone, they tend to access the internet, at a much higher degree through their smartphone device, as opposed to through a laptop or desktop computer, they tend not to have things like pictures in their homes and not fax machines. And, you know, our philosophy is certainly to meet people where they are as opposed to trying to pull them to where we would prefer. And for us that means that we certainly are in the process of investing a lot of time and attention and ultimately resources in developing you know, our own technology suite so that we can essentially a completely digital experience for for the consumer to work with from a small business funding perspective and have a human component that and touch base with them sometimes six times to a degree through the application process to be able to coach and guide them on the questions that they have. The briefly are, you know are not questions that they might feel comfortable asking of a person in an institution where they can ship because that relationship, you know, because of the variety of affiliative qualities of being able to connect with them through those cultural competencies that build trust, and then help them through that process. And technology helps to expand our reach, to be able to meet them where they are.
Dixon 25:20
I think those are excellent points. Thank you, Megan, for teeing up Marisa on that point of technology and I think we see that technology is really is changing the landscape in a lot of ways and broadening capabilities across all sectors. So, so thank you for that extra added context. Today, I’m going to come back over to you. And today, tell us a little bit about what you see going forward as you move into resiliency. What are the intended outcomes? What are the metrics? What’s going to denote success? Wow.
Dolphin 25:59
Well, we already denote success, are the businesses that we save, and the jobs that we save, but going forward? And I think any anytime you talk about supporting small businesses, it’s also the revenue that increases let’s brass tacks let’s just get real on that. Right? How many doors of access? Can we connect small businesses to how many markets can we connect them too. And so it really is going to be a whole, it already has been, but will continue to be a holistic approach. And so that’s when we look at recovering resiliency, it really is looking at the Whole approach. One of the things that was very Paramount during this pandemic was also the underpinnings of the back office function of most small businesses. When I was here in DC, working for the Department of small and local business, you know, that was one of the things that we wanted to address. And when I got to Birmingham, that was one of the things we wanted to address. Well, guess what, during the pandemic, it was highlighted when you talk about the technology piece, right? The other piece was that while folks were trying to process grants and loans, financial documents were required. So how do we also in this recover and resiliency piece, allow businesses to be resilient. And so whether it is their back office function, their financial savings, the ability to pivot faster, whatever it takes, that’s what we covered resiliency is really out to to explore and address. When I was in the federal government, we looked at resiliency as how can we make these economies more resilient? When there was an economic crisis? How can we go in if the fishing was is what they did? And now they can no longer fish? How do we support that economy? Well, the same thing has to happen for these small businesses as if we’re not thinking about it holistically, then we will also miss an opportunity to support them when the next flood or the hurricane or any thing else that may interrupt business. The other thing that we’re looking at, though, is we want to create, through really specific investments, you know, innovative products and practices, right. And so how do we use our investments, to do something that hasn’t been done before, explore new avenues. And so we’re really excited about growing Small Business School philanthropy at Wells Fargo beyond even what we’re doing today. And we could not have done that without the initial steps of programs like DCC, which I’m going to ask Megan to talk about, which is diverse community capital, and then building on OSB and then now into the future. So there’s a lot to do. It’s going to take all hands on deck. But we are ready and poised to play a role in that.
Dixon 29:07
Yeah, Megan, I remember the announcement of the diverse community capital program and thinking, wow, okay, this is big. And how are we going to pull that off? So I think we have some pretty good news to share in terms of where we are with this distribution of funds. So why don’t you give us a little insight on that.
Teare 29:29
Great, thank you. Gigi sewed another acronym. DCC stands for diverse community capital, which is a program that was put in place in 2015. All About again about small business CDFIs specifically, and we made a couple of commitments since 2015, which added up to 125 million in support for the CDI industry. And that took the form of 100 I’m sorry, 107. 85 million It was 125 million in grants, and then 50 million in debt capital. And we have completed that commitment. So we were thrilled about that. We reached close to 100, CDFIs with that funding. And I think what is interesting to me is that all of that support, really, actually helped set up the CDI sector to be responsive during this pandemic. Today, referred to them as financial first responders. And, you know, if you haven’t seen it in your community, you can know that it was it was happening, CDFIs, really stepped up and jumped on the PPP program when they could, I know CDFI staff people who are working, you know, 20 hour days to get that money out the door. It’s an industry that is so important all the time, but particularly in times, like, you know, the this unprecedented year we just lived through, they were very important during the Great Recession. And so we were just glad that we had been able to provide some support over the last several years in advance of in advance of the pandemic, and then again, to come in with some additional support with our open for business fund. Gigi, if I may I want to respond to a question that’s in the comments.
Dixon 31:27
Are you talking about Phyllis Logan’s question?
Teare 31:30
Maybe, yes.
Dixon 31:32
Well, first of all, I need to say hi to my friend, Phyllis Logan, I’m really thrilled that she’s out there in the audience in So hi, Phyllis. And we’re going to answer your question now. Go ahead.
Teare 31:43
So the question. Thanks, Gigi, and please chime in everyone else, the question was about CDFIs lending guidelines, and whether they’re structured, you know, more flexibly to fit small business and nonprofit needs. And I would say that, in short, the answer is yes. CDFIs really are positioned to be patient lenders. So you know, while they may not necessarily have, you know, the lowest rate in town, for example, they are setting up the payment plan so that it works well for the structure of the business, you know, they’re able to be creative that way. They’re getting in there again, even before making the loan through that technical assistance and development services, they may be able to do a longer term. So yes, they’re able to be really, I would say, more tailored than a traditional financial institution. And I’ll just see if others want to add to that.
Calderon 32:41
I certainly agree with everything that Megan mentioned. And, you know, I know several CDFIs that have sort of a range of very creative ways of approaching the lending needs spectrum of actual capital amounts, things like small dollar loans of as little as $1,000, or 20 $500, which you might not necessarily think of from a business perspective, but that would be four to lend. That can be a starting place for some people, you know, all the way up to $275,000. So certainly, I sort of think of CDFIs as a system that we tend to work with individuals who are kind of early, are more nascent in social services, understanding, and we help them to be have a relationship with a banking institution, so that when they arrive to that relationship, there is going to be a successful long term relationship for them. And the fact that that’s a continuum means that we have to be a little bit more flexible with that individual.
Dixon 34:01
Great. We’re getting more questions in and I do want to pivot to q&a in just a moment. And so I’m going to start to take the questions from chat. If you are, we’ll file them in rapid fire, we have plenty of time to answer some really good meaty questions. So the next question is coming from Calvin Holmes, open for business as a game changer for so many minority control and or lead CDFIs. Wells Fargo’s vision of empowering CDFIs embedded closest to small businesses that are not well connected is timely, very important and represents an act of justice. Wow, that wasn’t a question. That’s what I get for being but that was excellent. Thank you for that statement. So today and Megan have worked very hard on open for business along with Jenny Flores at Wells Fargo and I just want to acknowledge that, ladies, that’s a nice compliment. We do have a question from Samuel box. Then as well. Samuel says, what roles do CDFI play in rural communities? And what technical assistance does NCRC offer with limited broadband infrastructure? Very good question, as well. Marisa, you want to talk about?
Calderon 35:18
I’ll jump in and say that, you know, there are CDFIs certainly that focus on rural communities, specifically or as a specialty areas. So, honestly, one of I think the great advantages of the CDFI community, that it tends to be very close and focused on the particular needs. And that’s certainly the case for many. And as far as for us at NCRC. You know, I think that broadband is tough right now in advance. I mean, because we are, all of us sort of, in this were interacting and engaged over all of our various devices is because of the state of affairs of the world. And so we certainly are very flexible and working to meet people where they are, as I mentioned, we find that a lot of borrowers that we work with, do have a mobile phone, that’s a smartphone that they can connect with us on either just talking on the phone or on their phone, in a way that works for them. We also at interest II have a partnership with the DC Women’s Business Center, which is housed within NCRC. More broadly, for individuals who are local to the DC, metro area. They obviously, the intention is to focus on women entrepreneurs, but anyone can that is an entrepreneur can receive sentencing guidance in person through the DC Women’s Business Center. And that certainly meets people’s needs. So those things, those are things that we do in a in a pretty COVID environment, certainly post COVID once in person is bang, and then folks will be able to do that for the DC Women’s Business Center as well.
Dixon 37:18
Well, clearly, clearly, people are more comfortable in person sitting down and working through these opportunities, then, virtually, but honestly, with as we work on this issue of broadband, I mean, we the issues of broadband are far reaching, and have implications even by geography. We all know that I think everyone who works closely with NCRC knows that we’re all on a mission. And we’re all, you know, looking for technological justice, as well as economic justice and other forms of of equality and inclusion for the community. But you know, when you talk about the documentation, and getting small businesses ready, Phyllis has asked another question, I think it’s a really good question. Is there technical assistance available for the documentation? just just just simple things? Like, what do I get together in order to get access to this money? With the CDFIs? Who wants to take care of that? When will it be? Megan? Tene?
Teare 38:29
Sorry, I’m trying to get off mute. Yeah, I’m happy to, um, I am a funder of CDFIs. Now, but I used to work at one as well. And, you know, Phyllis, I was gonna say, hope you’ll reach out to Gigi afterwards. And we can try to hook you up with a CDFI wherever you are. And we’re also happy to, you know, talk to anyone after this, who’s who’s listening and has questions. But yes, I mean, many CDFIs, that’s part of their development services is that they will really help a business, you know, soup to nuts. Make a business plan. And, and related to that, you know, pull together the documents that are needed to apply for the loan or just to, you know, get get whatever business license you need. So they really are, as we’ve said, you know, high touch, they are working with businesses in a way that, you know, if you walk into your bank lobby, they probably don’t have time to do all of that. And that’s really what CDFIs are designed to do. I think, you know, as I said, they’ve been around for 40 to 50 years, I think of them as organizations like, like all of you, members of NCRC, who are, some of whom I know, are CDFIs, but groups that are rooted in community development, social justice, social impact, and they’re using finance as a tool to drive that. So, you know, mission comes first and there various tools there, including the financing and the technical assistance.
Dixon 39:59
Great. I think it’s more worth mentioning to Megan that, you know, and the CDFIs, who are in the audience know this. But that’s one of the criteria for getting access to the funds for CDFI is that they have these types of technical assistance. They have these wraparound programs that that help the intended recipient of the funding at the grassroots level, get the funding, the idea is to make sure that the funding gets exactly where it needs to be to make the appropriate impact in the community to help develop those communities. So thank you for answering that. So we don’t have any more questions unless I let me take a quick look and see.
Calderon 40:43
And, Gigi, well, while you’re looking at those if I could just sort of piggyback on what Megan mentioned. And I’ll just use a sort of a very recent example, within the industry, that that pulls back to something she mentioned earlier about PPP. You know, one of the reasons that CDFIs I think, have been especially successful executing PPP, for for black and brown communities and for other underserved communities is precisely because of that ta component. Because it’s it’s a process. You know, if you were to only just go online and look at a list of things, and try to figure out what you’re supposed to submit in February it applies to you or not, depending on the kind of business, it would likely be really confusing. And I know that as a PvP, we certainly have spent a great deal of time in counseling sessions, our borrowers to be able to make sure that we explain what they need, why it’s necessary. Ensure that when they provide a test, they provided the right thing explain why it is or isn’t the same. So that when you’re submitting that, for SBA approval, it’s a successful application. And frankly, all of that takes a good good time to be able to do with a variety of borrowers followers.
Dixon 42:10
Awesome, call out. I do want to acknowledge that we have Don Kelly in the audience who is shouting out for her business. She owns a small business in Jamaica, Queens, New York, and she’s provided her IV so take take a listen and look and go and check her out. Instagram, calm the nurse, forward slash, the nourish spot. And Don and her business are especially glad that the CDFIs and her community the greater Jamaica Development Corp, and Rockaway development revitalization Corp, know of her business and help them thrive. So congratulations on that dawn, thanks for sharing that you are a real example of a business that has tapped into the CDFI platform and have been able to have some real value as a result of that. So that’s very good, you know, the real life experiences are what count the real examples of where businesses have been able to get access to the funding, the technical assistance, the counseling, and guidance necessary to help them stabilize, grow, and ultimately thrive. And so on that note, Marisa, do you have an example of one of your small businesses that’s thriving and growing as a result of the NCRC cdmi?
Calderon 43:37
We do. And so there’s, there’s a group called radar LLC, that when they came to us, it sets a flag is based on when they came to us, it was, frankly, because they were frustrated that they’d gone to their own banking instance, which is not Wells Fargo, and, and two other places. And he returned away, because, you know, ultimately didn’t have, you know, frankly, all of their documents in a way that what could have been, you know, help them to be successful. And so we really invested all of that time and coaching with them. And we’re able to fund them. And, you know, they just unsolicited testimonials about how we’re not for the support that we provide, there would have been shuttered. So we’re incredibly excited that here to provide support to them and to DC based businesses, and we’re happy to continue to work in it.
Dixon 44:41
Okay. That’s a fantastic story. That’s a fact. And I’m sure there’ll be more more to come as you continue to grow the CDFI and continue to reach out to small businesses. So today, do you have a favorite story that you’ve seen over the past pandemic?
Dolphin 45:04
Oh my gosh, they’re probably too many to name. But I think one that comes to mind recently right here in Washington DC, how our open for business funds impacted my own community, right? Because sometimes you can’t like reach out and touch that. And that’s what I love. And so there is a tailor by the name of JC Taylor, JC Lofton here in Washington DC in to hear his story. It’s a legacy business, which I think is so important to the community will help legacy businesses continue and thrive. But they too were you know, of course, feeling the strong impacts, no one was coming. Listen, we’re all in spandex right now. So no one was getting anything tailored, or I’m sure that was it was a lot It was, you know, not just the in person piece, but just even the needs. But the open for business fund through one of our grantees was able to provide support to JC Loftus, and to hear that success story has been tremendous.
Dixon 46:18
That’s wonderful. So anybody who’s in the audience that’s in the DC area, and when you get out and about go see JC, and I know I need some tailoring, but I think I just need to buy a new wardrobe because there might not be well, I won’t go there. I’ll just say, Yeah, I won’t, I won’t go into Thank you very much. And, and I would say to the audience, I do like to keep it light. So hopefully no one’s offended by that we’ve all have our COVID stories, I’m sure. But I’m just gonna say I’m bigger and better as a result. Megan, give us a success. Tell us tell us something wonderful that’s come out of you know, the pain that we’ve all experienced over the past year. What wonderful thing has come out of it from your perspective on the CDF II front?
Teare 47:00
Um, another good question, Gigi, you know, for me it is. It’s kind of the sheer volume of stories. So one of the things that that we’ve done in the last year to support CDFIs, is to join some state level, emergency small business funds. So we’ve worked with the New York fund, California, Colorado, we’re looking at some more now. And, again, get getting back to today’s ecosystem. I mean, first, it’s just been tremendous to see all these different funders and parties, you know, the state cities, various funders, various CDFIs, all come together in each of these funds and work together. And we get reports every week about how their funding is going. And again, just the sheer volume, I’m thinking of the report I read every week out of New York, and it’s just a series of stories about everyday businesses that are getting loans from these funds. And it’s everything you can think of that’s in your neighborhood that we all go to it’s it’s the businesses that we use every day, and that keep us going. And we’re just so grateful to be able to play a part in those structures that were set up and supported by so many folks to try to get CDFIs through this pandemic and have them be there for their small businesses that they’re supporting. So I think the volume and the and the commitment over this last year has been definitely one of the silver linings during a very difficult time.
Dixon 48:39
That’s great Megan and, and I would also say that, I often tell people that I have the best job in the in the in the world. But I gotta tell you, you, you, you come right there next to my job, because you have been doing this work for as long as I’ve known you, which has been quite a few years. And just to think about the sheer volume of impact your work has added to communities across the United States. I just want to tell you in public that I so appreciate the professional and the expert, that you are around this and appreciate what you do. Marisa, I’ve known you for a minute, too, prior to NCRC. And it just gives me great joy to see you take on this leadership position within NCRC and sit in the seat of making sure that opportunities happen for communities through the CDFI and through the other work that you do with some of my very dearest friends in the movement. John Taylor and Jesse Van Tol, and the whole team. And so just thank you for all that you do and today, just such a fantastic and passionate professional around this work and around community. It’s just great getting to know you and to experience your expertise in this field and to know The volume of work you guys are pulling through on open for business, and all of our small business platform in philanthropy at Wells Fargo. So we’re winding down ladies, we’re about to get to your final thoughts. And before we get to your final thoughts, I have to just repeat some of the things that I said up front, we’re talking about small business, we’re talking about entrepreneurs, and entrepreneurs of color. Entrepreneurs of color, that have a growth rate 10 times faster than that of US Small businesses overall, generating 1.4 trillion in revenue and employing more than 7 million people helping to fuel the nation’s economy. Today, you heard about CDFI, community development finance institutions. More people need to know what these are tunay told you where you can find the ones that we funded. I’m going to ask her to repeat that in her final comments. But you know, I think we need to be on a movement to make sure the small businesses know where the resources are, and feel very comfortable reaching out and taking full advantage of those resources. Realizing that with CDFIs, part of the mission is to give all the technical assistance necessary to prepare the business to get access to the capital that they need. So with that, ladies, final comments. Tene, let’s start with you.
Dolphin 51:35
Well, thank you so much, Gigi, thank you for your kind words, I am passionate about this work. And I’m glad that that comes through. I wouldn’t be any other place doing any other thing, because this is what it’s important to me. Because while businesses fuel our economy and our communities, they are the creator of community. And it brings me great joy to support them. So I think Final Thoughts is that we’ve got a long way to go. We’ve done some tremendous work, but there’s still so much to do. This is a collective effort, both public and partner, private partnerships are critical to this work. And Wells Fargo is here for the long haul. And so with that, I will leave you with the website. Again, it’s wellsfargo.com backslash together, you’ll get to see some of the work that we’ve done with small businesses. You’ll also get to see the the list of grantees thus far. we’re updating that all the time. We’re excited about continuing this work in the future as we we go into recovery and resiliency. Thanks again.
Calderon 53:43
Are we back?
Dixon 53:49
Here, we did get cut off we were I thought we were supposed to go to the top of the hour. So we’re almost there. We have three minutes. So Megan, Marisa, you were next. And then Megan was gonna make final comments, and we were gonna close out. Thank you.
Calderon 54:04
Thank you. Well, I appreciate also your kind words and they think that your eyes approach the work that I do from a place of gratitude that I have the ability to take lived experience and to help to positively influence and create impact for small businesses that are like all of us and for communities that we all come from. And, you know, from my perspective, you know, our relationship with our funders, like Wells Fargo is incredibly important. And we certainly appreciate the ongoing support from from Wells Fargo itself to fuel us to be able to do this work. So for you, I certainly thank you for that and encourage everyone who is watching. You know, if you are a small business and you’re looking for funding, then please seek out sci fi that is in your local community, you can contact them certainly entered in any one of us, to help you to find a right fit for you in your community. And we’d be happy to help you to connect that way. So thank you so much.
Dixon 55:13
Megan, thank you, Marisa.
Teare 55:17
Thank you. Well, I don’t have a lot to add, I would just say, I do love my job. It is a privilege, as you say, Marisa to support the CDFI industry, I always say, you guys do the hard work. And, and so Marisa, thank you and all your peers. But on top of that, I mean, it’s the small businesses that we’re all ultimately trying to serve that are doing the really hard work, and getting out there every day and getting through this pandemic. So I think we’re all part of a really strong and committed an important system. You know, CDFIs, I hope will become more of a household name. As, as the years go on, and certainly have gotten more attention during this time when they’ve played such a pivotal, pivotal role in the recovery. You know, I would say my family still doesn’t understand what I do. But my hope is, you know, in the coming years that everyone will know what a CDFI is everyone will understand what we do. They’re just so important. And yes, certainly feel free to reach out to any of us. Another resource for locating CDFIs where you are is opportunity finance network, which is Oh, f n.org. And Gigi, thank you for guiding us through this discussion. You’re on mute.
Dixon 56:37
I said, Listen, I was gonna say thank you all for the wonderful, rich discussion. I know that we didn’t get to Laura, who was going to tell us about what her CDFI is doing. It’s in the chat, everybody. Take a look. Laura, thank you for that comment. And I will just just say that we enjoy our national strategic partnership with NCRC. And we look forward to the rest of this fantastic conference. And everybody stay safe and healthy. Thank you again. Have a great afternoon.
All 57:08
Thank you.
