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Meet Montina Young, The CDFI (and YouTube) Enthusiast Helping Other Entrepreneurs Succeed
At CNote, we consider ourselves to be the CDFI industry’s biggest cheerleader. Then we met Montina Young. When Montina was just 18 months old, her mother abandoned her. She was raised by an aunt, but she ended up homeless when she was 16 years old. Still, Montina managed to get her GED, and she hasn’t…
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Meet Dr. Alexia McClerkin, The Full-Time Student, Mom, and Entrepreneur Behind The Beauty and Wellness Doc
From the time that Dr. Alexia McClerkin broke her ankle in high school, she knew she wanted to become a doctor. Although Alexia didn’t end up pursuing a career as an orthopedic surgeon as she’d originally intended when she matriculated at Michigan State, she instead chose to study kinesiology so that she could work with…
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Meet Tanesha Sims-Summers, The Poppin-With-A-Purpose Entrepreneur Behind Naughty But Nice Kettle Corn Co.
Tanesha Sims-Summers has been an entrepreneur since she was a little girl when she would weave her way through the gridlocked traffic waiting to get into Birmingham’s Legion Field for the Alabama-Auburn football games, selling homemade popsicles for 50 cents as she went from car to car. Tanesha went on to graduate high school, and…
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How Two Disabled Veterans Turned Their Log Home Living Dreams Into A Lakeside Resort Reality
When Aimee and Preston Osborne met and married in Fort Hood, Texas in 2001, their dream was to one day own a lake-side resort, an RV park, or something that would take them back to their rural roots. Aimee grew up in the Northwoods of Minnesota, Preston was born and raised in Ashe County, North…
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Meet the Black Hills Community Loan Fund, A Native CDFI Rooted In Its Community, And Growing With It
When Onna LeBeau took the job of Executive Director for the Black Hills Community Loan Fund (BHCLF) nearly six years ago, the odds were stacked against the nonprofit. For the better part of a year, the Rapid City-based nonprofit had sat idle, and its board was only willing to give it — and Onna —…
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How Elevation Community Land Trust is Taking Affordable Housing to New Heights across Colorado
Stefka Czarnecki Fanchi has always been a big believer in homeownership. Both of her parents were teachers; however, her dad “built” every house Stefka’s family ever lived in, whether that meant physically building the structure or making improvements to what was already built. According to Stefka, she has lots of childhood memories as a kid…
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CDFI Loan Fund Capital Needs Survey: Why and What’s Next?
CDFI Loans Fund Capital Needs Survey: Why and What’s Next? The CNote CDFI Loans Fund Capital Needs Survey supports a data-driven approach to investing in communities. What is the CNote CDFI Loans Fund Capital Needs Survey? CNote seeks to empower investors to make informed decisions and target investments where the need is greatest. To specifically…
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CNote survey shows major opportunity for corporations, foundations and other accredited investors to meet demand for capital in underserved American communities
52 CDFIs could pump at least $182M into underserved communities within a year if they could access capital at favorable rates CDFIs serving Black and low- to moderate-income communities report a persistent capital shortfall, with housing and small business lending the most underfunded Oakland, CA—Loan funds certified as community development financial institutions (CDFIs) have an…
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CNote’s 2020 Annual Impact Report
CNote is thrilled to release our 2020 Annual Impact Report. Throughout 2020, CNote investors helped to create or maintain over 950 jobs across the country. In this report you will see: A letter from CNote’s co-founder and COO, Yuliya Tarasava CNote’s 2020 impact metrics A firmwide and portfolio update A CDFI partner profile Three CNote…
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PayPal Announces Investments In CNote’s Wisdom Fund and Promise Account
Today, PayPal Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: PYPL) today announced it will deposit $135 million of its capital into mission-driven financial institutions and management funds that help underserved communities of color to fight barriers to economic equity, including CNote’s Wisdom Fund and various smaller depository institutions through a CNote Promise Account. These investments are part of PayPal’s $535 million commitment to strengthen Black businesses and underserved communities, and help…
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