On September 19, East Bay EDA partnered with the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and Working Solutions, a Northern California based Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), to host Unlocking Capital, an event focused on supporting small businesses through strengthening collaboration between CDFIs and municipalities. CDFIs often serve as conduits of flexible capital to communities and individuals not well served by traditional financial systems. The role of small business-focused CDFIs became increasingly visible during the COVID-19 pandemic and they continue to play a key role in supporting local economic development ecosystems, particularly for underserved small business owners.
The half-day program started with remarks by Jermaine Carter-Gibson with the California Office of Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA), who highlighted some of the State of California’s recent initiatives and investments supporting small businesses in California. He was followed by a brief overview of CDFIs by staff from the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, who called out two Oakland-based CDFIs, Main Street Launch and ICA Fund, for their great work locally, as well as key national networks supporting CDFIs, including Opportunity Finance Network and CDFI Coalition. The first panel discussion of the event, titled “Partnerships in Action”, featured Kieron Slaughter from the City of Berkeley and Bret Sweet from the City of Antioch, who both shared how their local economic development teams helped small businesses successfully secure capital. After lunch, East Bay EDA executive director, Stephen Baiter, moderated a fireside chat with Sara Razavi, CEO of Working Solutions and Chris Horton, District Director of the U.S. Small Business Administration Region 9, on opportunities about how to unlock capital at an even larger scale through these networks.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the bipartisan Riegle Community Development and Regulatory Improvement Act creating the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund), which helped to expand CDFIs across the county. Since this pivotal moment in 1994, the CDFI Fund has provided community lenders more than $7.4 billion through a variety of monetary award programs and built the capacity of nearly 1,500 certified CDFIs located across all 50 states.
East Bay EDA is committed to supporting East Bay businesses of all sizes, from mom-and-pop stores to corporations. Please contact us if you have any questions about our work, including issues related to any upcoming events or if you would like information about membership.
