Calvert Impact launched Access by Calvert Impact, a national public-private partnership to support small businesses, with the closing of an $140 million warehouse credit facility from the urban investment g roup (UIG) at Goldman Sachs Alternatives. Access leverages government funds from the State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI) with private investment dollars to provide access to capital for small businesses with and through a network of community lenders.
The design and development of the Access program was originally made possible by grants from the Citi Foundation and the Wells Fargo Foundation, which supported Calvert Impact and its program partners.
“The Access program is working to address the liquidity and balance sheet constraints that have hamstrung the CDFI industry for decades and unleash CDFI lenders’ full potential to serve their communities,” Jenn Pryce, CEO of Calvert Impact, said. “The ability to warehouse assets afforded by this new credit facility is going to be critical to our ability to stand up new funds and achieve the national scale we are targeting with the Access program.”
“Goldman Sachs has deep experience supporting small businesses through our 10,000 small businesses program, and we know that the combination of education and capital is critical to accelerating their success,” Asahi Pompey, global head of corporate engagement at Goldman Sachs and president of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, said. “We’re proud to anchor and fund this powerful public-private partnership that unlocks capital for America’s economic growth engines and we hope this facility will serve as a blueprint that can be replicated across the country.”
The program will work with a range of community lenders — including CDFIs, credit unions and Minority Deposit Institutions — to provide them with an additional source of liquidity and client acquisition while reducing challenges with data collection and reporting.
“CDFIs are often a financial lifeline for small businesses that otherwise go unbanked,” Kristen Scheyder, senior vice president at Citi Foundation, said. “Citi Foundation’s $10 million grant to Calvert to support the design and launch of the Access program demonstrates our commitment to helping expand community lenders’ ability to strengthen local economies through needed small business loans.”
“Access to affordable capital continues to be the number one need of small businesses,” Gustavo Perez, vice president of philanthropy and community impact at Wells Fargo, said. “Programs like Access help expand community lenders’ ability to strengthen local economies by ensuring they have the resources to increase lending to small businesses. We are proud to provide philanthropic support to Calvert Impact Capital to enable them to leverage the State Small Business Credit Initiative to put more capital in the hands of small businesses so they can start, operate and expand.”
