Improving Access to Capital: Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative’s Response to the COVID Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a devastating impact on small businesses throughout the city of Atlanta, especially Black-owned businesses.
According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, COVID-19 shuttered 41% of Black-owned businesses between February and April 2020. It’s estimated that more than half of businesses owned by people of color have zero to 10 days of working capital (i.e. funds for day-to-day expenses, inventory, bills, etc.). While Black-owned businesses serve as the lifeblood in their communities, limited capital has made Black-own businesses far more vulnerable to the pandemic and amplified the economic impact faced in many Black communities.
The Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative (AWBI) has helped Black-owned businesses weather COVID-19 and provided support towards long-term recovery by providing accessible capital and other support to small businesses and nonprofits.
AWBI established the Atlanta Wealth Building Initiative COVID-19 Small Business Relief Fund, which offers general operating support grants for nonprofits supporting the Black business community. The Fund also provides grants for community-based small businesses, as well as zero-interest loans, to cover employee salaries, rent, supplier expenses, and general operating funding along with technical support. AWBI’s small business grants are the only product in the market providing flexible criteria, as well as dedicated technical assistance and advisory services targeted to support Black-owned businesses.
The Fund’s most recent cycle provided $10,000 loans designed to have extremely flexible loan terms to ensure the loan is not a burden to borrowers. The loan also serves as a credit building tool for those businesses who are able to repay the debt. Designed in the spirit of the African sou-sou, the funds being repaid will flow back into a revolving community loan pool used to provide on-going support for small Black-owned businesses. This community-based approach keeps money circulating locally to continue to serve its purpose to support community-based Black-owned businesses and wealth building throughout the community overall. AWBI’s intention is to bring innovative financial products to the market to support Black-owned businesses that may have been left behind by traditional lending institutions and to ensure shared prosperity and financial wellness circulates locally.
AWBI’s response to COVID-19 would not be possible without the generous support from the following donors:
Greater Atlanta COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund, a partnership between Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta and United Way of Greater Atlanta
Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation
More recently, funding from the Healthcare Georgia Foundation, Cousins Foundation, Georgia Power, and Center for Disaster Philanthropy will support additional rounds of grants and loans to provide working capital and technical assistance.
Thanks to the critical support of our donors, AWBI will be able to support more than 45 small businesses owned by people of color and 13 business support nonprofit organizations. AWBI will provide additional funding opportunities in the coming weeks. For the latest news on funding opportunities, make sure to subscribe to AWBI’s newsletter.
Whether it’s capital, technical support or coaching, AWBI remains committed to closing the racial wealth gap and ensuring that Black-owned businesses thrive through COVID recovery.