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How Treasurers Can Lead Their Company’s Impact Investing
This article, authored by CNote’s co-founder and CEO, Catherine Berman, was originally posted on GreenBiz. When you think about who makes the greatest social and environmental impact with corporate dollars, you probably think of the head of ESG or the chief investment officer, not the treasurer. Today’s corporate treasurers, however, are redefining their role beyond…
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How the Power of a Shared Voice is Pushing the First-of-its-Kind African American Alliance of CDFI CEOs to New Heights
Lenwood Long has been immersed in the world of community economic development since the 1980s, and until 2019, he was the CEO and President of Carolina Small Business Development Fund (CSBDF), a North Carolina-based Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) committed to fostering economic development in underserved communities. However, despite a long career in community finance…
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Meet Tawnya Dee Sanford, The Formerly Homeless, Big-Hearted Entrepreneur Behind The Little Engine Learning Center
If you ask Tawnya Dee Sanford what her secret is to running a successful business, she’ll tell you that she’s willing to give people a chance. After all, she wouldn’t be where she is today — as a person and as an entrepreneur — if it weren’t for the chances that people gave to her.…
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Corporate Treasurers Get Serious About Shifting Cash to Communities
This article, authored by CNote’s co-founder and CEO, Catherine Berman, was originally posted on Sustainable Brands. There’s been some skepticism regarding the announcements of big corporate investments in CDFIs and minority deposit institutions — are these one-offs just to generate a press release or first steps on long-term commitments? Shareholders increasingly want to know how…
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How A CDFI is Helping Knox County Homeless Coalition Address Affordable Housing in Midcoast Maine
When Steph Primm left the for-profit world and moved to Maine, she wanted to do something more meaningful than help other people make money. Although she’d grown up in the New York metro area going to summer camp in Maine, it wasn’t until she moved to “The Pine Tree State” after a successful career in…
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Meet Cheri Witt-Brown, the ‘Accidental Entrepreneur’ Leading a Habitat for Humanity Affiliate to New Heights
For as long as Cheri Witt-Brown can remember, she’s known her way around a residential construction site. Her father owned a home-building and real estate company, and Cheri landed her first construction job — albeit picking up nails — when she was just three years old. She was paid a penny per nail for her…
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How a Business Resiliency Course Helped Michea Rahman, an Entrepreneurial Speech Pathologist, Take Her Business to New Heights
Since Michea Rahman was a child, she always knew that she wanted to one day work with children. She idolized teachers, adored Sesame Street, and, unsurprisingly, grew up to become a middle school arts educator in her hometown of Houston, Texas. One day, a fellow teacher asked Michea if she’d be willing to work with…
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Meet Julia Sleeper-Whiting, Whose Undergraduate Volunteerism Became a Nonprofit Dedicated to Youth Empowerment
When Julia Sleeper-Whiting moved to Lewiston, Maine to attend Bates College, she never could have imagined that she’d be a small business owner in the community more than 15 years later — and not as a veterinarian, which she originally planned to become as a first-year undergraduate student. Julia intended to specialize in animal care,…
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CNote’s Q4 2020 Impact Metrics
We know one of the main reasons you invest with CNote, is because of the impact your investment has. We’re proud to share CNote’s Q4 2020 impact data. In Q4 2020, our members helped create/maintain over 240 jobs and over 45% of all CNote investments funded women! If you’d like to see our annual impact data,…
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Meet Felicia Parks, A Franchisee Encouraging Her Employees To Become Entrepreneurs
Felicia Parks was always interested in business; however, it wasn’t until her two sons were grown adults before she decided to try her hand at it. In fact, her sons were the inspiration that propelled her to open her own franchise. After her youngest son graduated high school, he launched his own janitorial service. Unfortunately,…
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Where finance meets impact.