Black Cooperative Impact Fund

Based on cooperative economics, BCIF is a community-based organization that provides microloans to the Black community through pooled dollars and raises awareness about the importance of economic empowerment, equity and wealth building, with a focus on SoCal communities.

BCIF’s long-term vision is to provide a dedicated, reliable, and perpetual source of capital to crea

Goal One: BCIF will impact wealth in the Black community. At full scale, BCIF can distribute 24 - 36 microloans annually, ranging between $5,000 - $20,000, keeping doors open in the aftermath of the pandemic.

Goal Two: A unique characteristic of BCIF is its specific focus. BCIF raises awareness about the importance of economic empowerment, equity, and wealth building for the Black community.

Goal Three: A $500,000 fund can result in $1.2 million in assets being generated in southern California's Black community, a 145% growth rate on BCIF’S investment.

Each microloan extended represents the reinforcement of business leadership development in the Black community.

The environment prior to the pandemic was already a difficult business environment for Black businesses. The Covid-19 pandemic decimated Black businesses. ● According to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Covid-19 Concentrated Health and Wealth Effects in the Black Community, Black businesses experienced the most acute decline, with a 41 percent drop, Latinx business owners fell by 32 percent and Asian business owners dropped by 26 percent. At that time, the number of white business owners fell by 17 percent compared to the Black business at 41 percent. ● The report goes further and details, Los Angeles County Pandemic Protection Program (PPP) only covered 15.4 percent of the total 81, 563 Black businesses. The resulting fact is 12,560 businesses received pandemic relief, while nearly 70,000 businesses were left to self-support. There is limited data available to reflect absolute and relative experience of Asian-, Black-, Hispanic- and Native-owned small businesses ● Chair of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, refused to require the SBA to collect demographic information from borrowers. As a result, 75% of all first- and second-round PPP loans did not include the race of the business owner applicants. If significant support and access to capital is not injected into Black businesses in Southern California, it will be extremely difficult to rejuvenate the Black and minority community.