Wells Fargo announced on Friday, Feb. 12, that six New York-based community development financial institutions (CDFIs) have received a combined $5 million from the bank’s “Open for Business Fund” (OFB) to help local small businesses impacted by the economic struggles caused by COVID-19.

Wells Fargo representatives said the bank selected Accompany Capital ($500,000), Greater Jamaica Development Corporation ($500,000), Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund ($400,000), NDC Community Impact Loan Fund ($1 million), Pursuit Community Finance ($1 million) and Renaissance Economic Development Corporation ($1.6 million) as part of a nationwide small business recovery effort.

Representatives said the new Wells Fargo grants to CDFIs in New York City and the surrounding areas will help underserved small businesses stay open and preserve jobs through short and long-term COVID-19 resiliency efforts, expanded micro lending activities and programming for business owners in Black, African American, Hispanic, Asian and other communities.

Wells Fargo launched the Open for Business Fund in 2020 as an estimated $400 million small business recovery effort across the U.S. to help entrepreneurs recover and rebuild. The initiative focuses on increasing access to capital, technical expertise and long-term resiliency programs. To date, Wells Fargo officials said the bank has distributed more than $110 million across 32 states to help entrepreneurs, enabling them to keep roughly 50,000 jobs.

Bill Daley, vice chairman of public affairs at Wells Fargo, said New York is resilient but that the profound effects of the pandemic mean public and private sectors need to come together to invest in an inclusive economic recovery. “This funding will help the hard-hit restaurant industry in the state, and [in] New York City, as well as other local retail and service small business owners so they can preserve their livelihoods, and those of their employees,” he said. “Wells Fargo’s long history of working with CDFIs has proven an effective avenue for getting additional capital to those who need it most.”

Some of the six CDFIs will cater to small businesses across New York City and in other surrounding areas. Others, like the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation, will cater specifically to small businesses in specific boroughs only, like Queens.

E. Hamil Douglas is president and CEO of Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund and will use the Wells Fargo grant to help minority-owned, small businesses in Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, and The Bronx. “This grant will allow us to continue providing capital and technical assistance to ensure successful recovery for small businesses in Harlem, Upper Manhattan and surrounding communities, during these unprecedented times,” he said.

Accompany Capital will focus on aiding immigrant and refugee entrepreneurs, especially women small business owners in the City’s five boroughs. Yanki Tshering is executive director of the organization and said the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been tragic for millions of Americans, but has been particularly devastating for small and micro business owners in low-to-moderate income communities.

“Accompany Capital is thrilled to receive this generous grant that will enable us to provide much needed debt and rent relief to immigrant and refugee small business owners, as well as to encourage and reward small businesses that have implemented post-COVID innovations,” she said.

Meanwhile, NDC Community Impact Loan Fund focuses on serving black and brown communities in the Metro New York City market as well as Florida, Atlanta Metro Area, Ohio, and the St. Louis Metro area. Pursuit will assist people of color, female-led businesses, and LMI entrepreneurs in New York as well as underserved communities in surrounding areas in New York state, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

Renaissance Economic Development Corporation (REDC) serves diverse, low-income, predominately Asian American owned small businesses within New York City. In addition to existing small business support, the CDFIs will develop and expand programs aimed to address systemic issues and unique challenges faced by diverse entrepreneurs. For example, REDC is providing special services to Asian American communities subjected to xenophobic attacks and burdened with the highest unemployment rates during the pandemic of any demographic group in New York.

A significant portion of Pursuit’s, Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund’s, and NDC’s grants will go specifically toward assisting struggling restaurants, an industry hit particularly hard by the pandemic. In addition to providing debt and rent relief, Accompany Capital is supporting two business pitch competitions focused on rewarding small women-owned businesses that have successfully innovated to weather the crisis.

Interested small business owners can visit the following participating organizations’ websites to learn more about available services and apply for financial assistance. Accompany Capital, Harlem Entrepreneurial Fund, Pursuit Community Finance, NDC Community Impact Loan Fund, and Renaissance Economic Development Corporation.

The Norwood News recently reported how 44 neighborhood organizations representing New York City’s five boroughs recently joined forces to deliver messages of love and support to small businesses throughout the city, in the lead up to St. Valentine’s Day. A combination of Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), chambers of commerce, merchant associations and other community-based development organizations customized the “St. Valentine’s Day Sweethearts Shop Local” program to individual neighborhoods across the city, with the following common messages to New Yorkers:

• Shop local
• Order direct
• Write a positive review
• Shout out on social media
• Buy a gift card
• Send a love letter

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.