Earlier this week, Bank of America awarded the Economic and Community Development Institute a $40,695 grant as part of a larger national program that helps with small business lending.
ECDI will use the funds allocated for the grant to secure more than $270,000 in loan capital from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Those funds will then be leveraged with other funding sources to create an even larger financial pool that will then be distributed as microloans to assist local startup companies.
“We are deeply appreciative that Bank of America has chosen to support ECDI as we support local businesses,” says ECDI Founder and CEO Inna Kinney. “The final result of the small investment by Bank of America will be $800,000 in loans to 30 or more small local businesses.”
Over the last seven years, ECDI has collectively loaned more than $9 million to more than 600 entrepreneurs throughout Central Ohio.
“Bank of America is committed to helping strengthen small businesses and new startup companies stimulate job creation, which is critical to our nation’s economic recovery,” says Jeneen Marziani, Ohio president at Bank of America. “Even the smallest grant enables a nonprofit lender like ECDI to leverage approximately ten times that amount to lend to small businesses, which creates a ripple effect impacting job growth, spending, and economic expansion.”
Bank of America is the nation’s largest Community Development Financial Institution lender with more than $1 billion invested with 120 CDFIs in 37 states.
To learn more, visit ECDI.org and BankofAmerica.com.