Starbucks Community Resilience Fund

STARBUCKS PLEDGES $100 MILLION FOR ‘COMMUNITY RESILIENCE FUND’

Starbucks announced the company will invest $100,000 to launch the ‘Starbucks Community Resilience Fund’ aimed at advancing racial equity and environmental resilience by supporting small businesses and community development projects in Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) neighborhoods.

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy, Starbucks is partnering with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) to share the museum’s educational resources and digital volunteer opportunities.

As part of the collaboration, Starbucks will invite partners and customers to participate in the Freedmen’s Bureau Transcription Project. Through the project, volunteers can help digitally transcribe handwritten records containing information from newly emancipated Black people during the Reconstruction period. The initiative helps African Americans discover their ancestors and historians better understand the years following the Civil War. These records will be used later in a museum exhibition planned for 2021.

By 2025, the Starbucks Community Resilience Fund will invest $100 million to advance racial equity and environmental resilience by supporting small business growth and community development projects in neighborhoods with historically limited access to capital. The investments will initially focus on 12 U.S. metropolitan areas and their surrounding regions: Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle and Washington D.C.

In partnership with community leaders, Community Development Finance Institutions (CDFIs) and other impact-focused financial institutions, the fund will help provide access to capital intended to support small businesses and neighborhood projects, including those addressing the inequitable impacts of climate change.

As part of the initiative, Starbucks will work with partners like the Opportunity Finance Network to allocate funds to local CDFIs that will provide borrowers with access to capital, ongoing mentorship and technical assistance.

Opportunity Finance Network’s President and CEO, Lisa Mensah said,

Starbucks is investing in the survival of small business by working with CDFIs in key cities across America. CDFIs deliver affordable credit as well as training on disaster recovery and rebuilding – and that is exactly what small businesses need right now to withstand ongoing economic and climate changes.

With partners like Starbucks and CDFIs, these small businesses will have a fighting chance to recover, rebuild, hire workers and serve their local economy.

The effort expands on Starbucks 2019 commitment to invest $10 million in four Chicago-based CDFIs: Accion Chicago, Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF), IFF and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC).

Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot said,

As Chicago continues down the road to recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, Starbucks commitment to bettering the cities and communities they serve has been incredibly invaluable.

Thanks to their investment, Chicago’s CDFIs, such as Accion, CCLF and more, will be able to both continue the necessary work of increasing access to funding for our small businesses – especially those located in neighborhoods struggling with historic disinvestment – and support our ongoing, citywide efforts to provide COVID relief grants to our business community.

I remain immensely grateful to Starbucks for their dedication to uplifting our neighborhoods – work that aligns with our city’s INVEST South/West initiative.

Green Era Sustainability was among the first organisations to receive loans from CDFIs that Starbucks invested in last year. Green Era has been raising funds to construct a sustainable campus in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood of Chicago. The campus will include a 2-acre clean energy generation facility, an urban farm, green houses, an outdoor fresh produce market, a visitor center with classrooms for community activities and a STEM education center. Among other positive impacts to the community, Green Era is expected to create 247 construction jobs and 25 permanent jobs.

CDFIs often collaborate with multiple lenders to make large projects like Green Era’s sustainable campus possible. Two of Starbucks investees – IFF and CCLF – each made loans to Green Era to support the project, in addition to other impact-focused financial institutions. Additional financing for the project also came from Partners for the Common Good and Reinvestment Fund as well as the local impact investor Benefit Chicago.

Kevin Johnson, Starbucks President and Ceo said,

Starbucks has always been a company focused on caring for our partners, creating experiences for our customers and playing a positive role in our communities and throughout society.

We are excited to make this investment as it aligns with our Mission and Values and supports our aspiration to advance equity and opportunity in the communities we serve.

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