Via the Philadelphia Business Journal
By Chris Fuhrmeister
Philadelphia will be one of the first cities to benefit from a $100 million Starbucks initiative meant to "advance racial equity and environmental resilience."
Seattle-based coffee giant Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX) announced the launch of its Starbucks Community Resilience Fund, which is "focused on supporting small businesses and community development projects in Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) neighborhoods." The company also announced that it 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."
The Starbucks Community Resilience Fund is committed to investing $100 million by 2025 to support small business growth and community development projects in neighborhoods with historically limited access to capital. The investments will initially focus on 12 metropolitan areas in the U.S. and their surrounding regions: Atlanta, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
The fund will collaborate with community leaders, Community Development Finance Institutions and other "impact-focused" financial institutions. As part of the initiative, Starbucks will work with partners such as the Opportunity Finance Network to allocate funds to local CDFIs that will provide borrowers with access to capital, ongoing mentorship and technical assistance.