Maryland Congressional Delegation Announces Over $86M in Federal Funds for Investments in Minority and Underserved Communities | U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland

September 21, 2022

Small and minority-owned companies and shoppers in low-income and financially underserved communities, particularly those that struggled in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, will profit

At this time, U.S. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Ben Cardin and Congressmen Steny H. Hoyer, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Kweisi Mfume, Anthony G. Brown, Jamie B. Raskin and David Trone (all D-Md.) introduced  that three Maryland-based group monetary establishments will obtain a mixed $86.6 million from the U.S. Division of the Treasury Emergency Capital Funding Program (ECIP) to assist low-income and minority debtors. Funded by means of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, which was supported by all Democratic members of Staff Maryland, these funds are direct, wide-ranging investments in our communities which were financially underserved and harmed essentially the most in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The financial hurt from COVID-19 nonetheless lingers throughout Maryland, particularly amongst minority small companies and others who have been systemically underserved earlier than the pandemic,” the lawmakers mentioned. “We now have fought to create an equitable restoration that drives funding, together with capital and loans, in our communities with the best want. These group monetary establishments know the area and are uniquely suited to personalize help for native companies to allow them to create jobs and develop financial alternatives for all Marylanders.”

The three Maryland-headquartered Group Improvement Monetary Establishments (CDFI) and Minority Depository Establishments (MDI) receiving funds are: 

• $75.038 million – Harbor Bankshares Company, Baltimore Metropolis (CDFI and MDI)
• $7 million – SkyPoint Federal Credit score Union, Germantown (CDFI) 
• $4.6 million – Securityplus Federal Credit score Union, Baltimore Metropolis (MDI)

“These investments are designed to help the efforts of group monetary establishments to, amongst different issues, present loans, grants, and forbearance for small and minority-owned companies and shoppers,” in keeping with Treasury. In addition they embrace the “improvement and preservation of inexpensive housing, and investments in group improvement initiatives.”

The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the significance of investing in CDFIs and MDIs, key elements of the federal authorities’s effort to ship capital to underserved small companies and entrepreneurs. In March, the Senate Small Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Committee, which is chaired by Senator Cardin, launched a report discovering that set-asides for CDFIs and MDIs within the Paycheck Safety Program (PPP) ensured that minority-owned, rural, and different underserved small companies had entry to PPP loans. In line with the workers report, “The equity-focused insurance policies carried out by Congress and the Biden administration over the lifetime of PPP resulted in a big enchancment within the quantity and share of loans that have been made to minority-owned, women-owned, and different underserved small companies.” As Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Monetary Service and Basic Authorities, which funds the Division of the Treasury Emergency Capital Funding Program in addition to funding for CDFI and MDI packages, Senator Van Hollen oversaw the rise of those funds within the 2022 appropriations invoice.