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 drive financial health, access , and generational wealth creation.
You can read PayPal’s full announcement here.
Ebony Harris is the type of small business owner PayPal’s investments support. Her business, In Good Hands Learning Center, served families in Jackson, TN throughout the pandemic so essential workers in her community could continue to work. Read her story.
John Rainey, Chief Financial Officer and EVP Global Customer Operations at PayPal, added “through strategic, sustainable investments in these institutions we can tangibly address inequality and work to help close long-standing lending gaps, creating opportunities for communities to build and sustain wealth.”
“PayPal’s investment in the Promise Account will mobilize deposits across CNote’s nationwide network of mission-driven depository institutions, fostering greater capital access and economic justice for communities of color,” stated Catherine Berman, CEO, CNote. “PayPal’s Wisdom Fund commitment is an investment in the future of women of color, providing the loan capital, business coaching and funding research to fuel greater economic freedom and wealth creation for BIPOC women business owners across America. Working together, we can help address the system, not just the symptoms, behind economic inequality in America.”
Michea Rahman is the founder of Children’s Language Learning Center, a speech therapy center with a mission of providing quality pediatric speech therapy services to children. Another illustrative beneficiary of this PayPal investment, Michea received a PPP loan from a CNote Partner which allowed her business to weather the effects of COVID-19. Read her story.
About CNote
CNote is a women-led investment platform that empowers individuals and institutions to invest in communities to further economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and address climate change. With the aim of closing the wealth gap, CNote’s fixed income and depository products provide a diversified and scalable way to support job creation, small business creation, affordable housing development, and lasting economic growth in communities that need it most. CNote technology allows anyone, from large corporations to first-time investors, to generate measurable social and economic returns by investing in the causes and communities they care about.
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Dan Schulman, President and CEO at PayPal, shared these comments on this initiative “A critical component to closing the racial wealth gap is economically empowering underrepresented communities that have traditionally been shut out of opportunities to build and sustain wealth. Whether it’s helping someone purchase a home or open their own business, these institutions are on the front lines of creating financial stability and expanding opportunity for traditionally underserved communities. We are proud to partner with them as we work together to advance economic equity and racial justice.”