June 18, 2021—Vice President Kamala Harris announced Tuesday the White House is distributing an additional $1.25 billion to community lenders to help small businesses recover from the pandemic.
The funds will go to more than 860 community development financial institutions throughout the country, per the Associated Press. Those institutions lend to small businesses and others that may be rejected for loans by bigger banks. Harris said CDFIs are “exactly the right place” through which to make funding available because they help bypass the “many long-term structural problems” of the economy regarding who can and cannot access credit and capital.
The $1.25 billion comes from a larger $12 billion provision in the 2020 stimulus that former President Donald Trump signed into law in December.
