The Metropolitan Economic Development Council will be awarded $1.5 million over the next three years from Wells Fargo to help local financial institutions increase lending to minority-owned businesses.
MEDA is the recipient of a Diverse Community Capital Program Grant. These grants are part of a Wells Fargo initiative to provide $18.5 million in funding to nine community development financial institutions. San Francisco-based Wells Fargo launched the program in 2015 with the goal of giving $175 million to minority-led small businesses by 2020.
"Small businesses are essential to a vibrant community, no matter where you live," Rich Tofte, Wells Fargo's business banking manager, said in a statement. "These 'activator grants' are designed to drive inclusive economic growth and significantly scale resources that help underrepresented entrepreneurs grow and stay resilient in the face of economic challenges."
MEDA provides business development services to minority-owned companies in the Twin Cities. The organization said that it will use the funds from Wells Fargo to support mission-driven and diverse community financial institutions in an effort to increase the amount of capital available to minority entrepreneurs.
Over the years, MEDA says it has helped launch more than 500 minority-owned businesses and assisted more than 20,000 entrepreneurs in the state. The organization operates a growing CDFI that provides capital for minority businesses to become sustainable.
"Currently, there is a gap in the technology to process and manage loans in the diverse-lending CDFI market," MEDA CEO Gary Cunningham said in a release. "MEDA is excited to partner with Wells Fargo to develop a bank enterprise system to help address this need."
