In this paper, we share lessons in six key areas related to microloan origination, including specific practices of CDFIs that are currently originating many hundreds or thousands of microloans annually. The findings are drawn from the members of BOI’s Microfinance Impact Collaborative (MIC), which has been convening and collaborating since 2015 and whose members collectively originated 11,978 loans totaling just under $310 million in 2022. This paper follows a prior one that described the critical role that microloans — loans less than $50,000 — play in meeting the needs of Black and Latinx borrowers and the challenges that CDFIs face in scaling microlending.
Resource Category: Access to Capital
Economic Wellness: Meeting Families Where They Are
In our new report, we examine the barriers low-income, BIPOC communities face in the US banking system. Based on data from nearly 900 participants in Southern California, the report looks at access to affordable banking options, trust and confidence in the banking system, existing community outreach programs, and it offers policy recommendations. CRC
Making CRA Relevant for a Changing Financial Services Industry
This paper examines shifts in the market share of banks and nonbank financial institutions in important product markets. Banks are covered by the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) which requires them to serve all communities, including low- and moderate-income (LMI) ones. Nonbanks, in contrast, do not have this obligation. NCRC
California Communities’ Broadband Needs and the Role of Financial Institutions
For this report, the California Reinvestment Coalition (CRC) analyzed findings from multiple surveys of our varied constituents. First, we conducted a survey of 13 large national banks about their investments in broadband access and adoption initiatives. Second, in partnership with The Greenlining Institute, we conducted an annual survey of our members, who are local organizations
Debunking Risk in Food System Lending
Food and agriculture-related businesses are often perceived as too risky for traditional lending approaches, yet CDFA research tells a different story. This report, with loan-level data from over a thousand funds nationwide, demonstrates that food system loans perform and that revolving loan funds can successfully support local food system borrowers in their communities. CDFA
Using Technical Assistance to Improve Minority and Rural Small Business Access to Capital
Minority owned small businesses face more challenges in obtaining capital than other small businesses. As stated in the PayPal-funded report, Reducing the Racial Financial Health Gap: The Opportunity for Responsible Fintech, “Black-owned small businesses have faced huge challenges in credit availability, which contributes to the racial disparities in income, financial health, and wealth. The COVID-19
Faulty Foundations: Mystery-Shopper Testing In Home Appraisals Exposes Racial Bias Undermining Black Wealth October 2022
The way that homeowners, lenders and policymakers use the term “property values” often implies that there is one organic, objective, correct definition of what someone’s home is worth. But that is not the case. Our cultural conception of property values obscures the fact that those values are often determined by human beings. Professional appraisers make
The Impacts of COVID-19 on Racial Disparities in Small Business Earnings
New research from Advocacy indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic led to greater earnings losses for business owners of color than white business owners. SBA Office of Advocacy.
California Communities’ Broadband Needs and the Role of Financial Institutions
California Communities’ Broadband Needs and the Role of Financial Institutions: Findings from California Reinvestment Coalition Surveys California Reinvestment Coalition
Bridging the Capital Access Gap Report : An Overview of the Small Business Financing Industry
Although entrepreneurship is often touted as an arena of equal opportunity, there are major systemic barriers to realizing this ideal – one being access to capital. ICIC and LISC came together for an in-depth look at the small business financing industry and ways that business owners can use this knowledge to gain access to additional avenues of capital. ICIC,