In the blog below, Steve Hall, EOCF National Director and LISC Vice President of Small Business, explores what’s next for the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund as it hits its $500 million goal—ahead of schedule. Hall describes a borrower-informed strategy for the next three years that will build on and leverage climate resiliency and artificial intelligence efforts to expand loan products and get more capital into the hands of entrepreneurs who need it.

An article in Bloomberg highlights MacKenzie Scott’s recent unrestricted grant-making to nonprofits, including a $65 million gift to LISC. Unrestricted gifts like this, in addition to Scott’s 2020 donation of $40 million, allow LISC to intensify and build upon its work with a more flexible and innovative approach. As our CEO Michael Pugh noted to Bloomberg, “the ability to have unrestricted giving like this frankly allows us to unlock and tap into the American Dream for everyday Americans across our country.”

Quest Safety Products, a small, minority-owned distributor and maker of personal protective equipment and other safety products, has a 27-year track record of meeting customer needs. Now growth capital from the Abbott-LISC Initiative to Support Diverse Businesses in Health is helping CEO Sam Yadav realize an expansion, boosting resiliency in a supply chain that’s vital to us all.

LISC is teaming up with Lowe’s to help small businesses in Western North Carolina recover from the impacts of Hurricane Helene. We will make $20,000 grants to 100 small businesses to address urgent needs and jumpstart recovery. Small businesses in disaster-declared communities may apply for grants from Nov. 18 to Nov. 22.

LISC announced today that the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund (EOCF) has surpassed its $500 million goal for small business lending across the country—more than two years ahead of schedule. LISC is now expanding the program to double its impact, aiming to support $1 billion in financing for underserved businesses and communities. “We are working to level the playing field—to connect promising but overlooked businesses to affordable financing so that whole communities can benefit from economic development and growth,” said Steve Hall, LISC vice president of Small Business Lending.

After a student’s tragic death, former teacher Elizabeth Alegría founded Gramercy Specialty Clinic, a Texas-based behavioral healthcare organization focused on serving diverse populations and addressing mental health barriers in Latino communities. With a $150,000 investment from the Abbott-LISC Initiative to Support Diverse Businesses in Health, Alegría is expanding Gramercy’s virtual services and developing a technology app to scale the organization across several states.