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INDIANAPOLIS

$1 million investment announced toward Indiana's first Black-led loan fund

Brandon Drenon
Indianapolis Star

Indianapolis is allocating $1 million of its American Rescue Plan funding to support the creation of a loan fund designed to support communities of color, it was announced Thursday.

The $1 million will go toward the development of Indiana’s first-ever Black-led Community Development Financial Institution Loan Fund, according to the press release. (A CDFI Fund is a federal designation applied to financial institutions that support economically disadvantaged communities.)

Equity1821 was officially formed last week and is named in honor of what is believed to be the first Black-owned business established in Indianapolis by David Mallory in 1821, the press release stated. 

The funding, approved by the City-County Council in September, is a part of Mayor Joe Hogsett’s spending plan for $419 million granted to the city.

“This represents an enormous opportunity," Hogsett said in the press release, "to remove barriers to prosperity for Black entrepreneurs, workers, and business owners across Indianapolis.”

Marshawn Wolley, the president and CEO of Black Onyx Management, which is consulting on the effort, told IndyStar that the goal is to "create the equitable lending that Black businesses need to form and to be competitive."

Black entrepreneurs are denied bank loans more than twice as often as their white peers, according to the press release.

The nine city leaders that will make up the board include:

  • Tony Mason, President of the Indianapolis Urban League 
  • Tanya McKinzie, President of Indiana Black Expo IBE
  • Willis Bright, Chairman of the African American Coalition of Indianapolis, 
  • Phil Johnson, Senior Vice President, Treasurer and Head of Corporate Transactions for Eli Lilly and Company
  • Nick Bontrager, Twenty-five years of financial services and twenty-three years of banking experience
  • Greg Hicks, Chief Financial Officer of the Indy Black Chamber of Commerce 
  • Robert Shegog, President of the Indianapolis Recorder Charities
  • Latoya Botteron, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Central Indiana Corporate Partnerships 
  • Jeff Bennett, Deputy Mayor for Community Economic Development for City of Indianapolis

Black Onyx Management and the city leaders will set up Equity1821 as a formal nonprofit to provide financial resources to Black businesses and other businesses of color, he said, once the CDFI has been approved.

"I think this is definitely going to provide hope," Wolley told IndyStar. "We are going to put Black businesses in a position where they can be successful." 

The board is scheduled to meet next month to approve the nonprofit application for filing with the IRS, and also to discuss plans to hire a CEO and CDFI consultant.

Contact IndyStar reporter Brandon Drenon at 317-517-3340 or BDrenon@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BrandonDrenon.

Brandon is also a Report for America corps member with the GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world.

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