Capital Impact Partners Entrepreneurs of Color Fund
Entrepreneurs of Color Fund
Investing in businesses owned by individuals of color provides real opportunity to drive economic growth in neighborhoods and support those entrepreneurs to grow a successful business, build wealth, and benefit from a growing economy. Realizing this potential, Capital Impact Partners is working with JPMorgan Chase, the A. James and Alice B. Clark Foundation, the Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif), the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC), and Harbor Bank to forge new pathways to entrepreneurship in the Washington, D.C. region.
The Fund will preserve and grow minority-owned businesses in commercial corridors by:
-Providing capital to update and invest in the storefronts, inventory, and service delivery systems, as well as technical assistance for minority-owned small businesses along commercial corridors in Washington, D.C.’s Wards 7 and 8;
-Supporting the preservation of long-standing minority owned small businesses in commercial corridors to mitigate the impact of large-scale infrastructure projects;
-Cultivating a new generation of minority housing developers by replicating the success of Capital Impact’s Equitable Development Initiative in Detroit; and
-Streamlining anchor institution procurement processes by offering the capital and advice needed for more local minority-owned businesses to scale and secure contracts from Washington-region anchor institutions, which have committed to purchasing more than $2 billion in supplies and services from diverse businesses in the region.