Opportunity Finance Network awarded the loan to support the CDFI’s work to help minority and women-owned businesses   

West Sacramento, Calif. — Rural Community Assistance Corporation (RCAC) announced today it received a Grow with Google Small Business Fund loan from Opportunity Finance Network (OFN). The community development financial institution (CDFI) will deploy the loan to small businesses in rural communities throughout the West hurt by the economic impact of COVID-19.

For more than 40 years, RCAC has worked primarily in small, underserved rural, native, and Tribal communities. RCAC’s core services are community lending, water, wastewater, training, affordable housing and economic development. RCAC has more than 160 professionals working in 13 states.

RCAC also is a Small Business Administration approved lender and provided $9,277,006 in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to 98 borrowers.

Launched in March, the Grow with Google Small Business Fund delivers financing to CDFIs that are supporting the short-term recovery and long-term financing needs of America’s small businesses hardest hit by COVID-19. At the same time, Google.org made a $5 million grant to OFN to enable OFN’s member CDFIs to improve access to capital for the most marginalized communities. The unrestricted grants can support operations, loan capital, loan loss reserve, capacity building, or any other purpose.

On June 17, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai announced an additional $45 million in loans for the Fund to assist Black-owned small businesses and $5 million more in Google.org grants. In total, Google has now committed $170 million in loans and $10 million in Google.org grants.

RCAC is part of the most recent rounds of loans OFN deployed from the Fund since June 2020. See a full list of loan recipients here.

CDFIs are lenders with a mission to serve small businesses that are underserved by mainstream finance and a proven model for moving capital into the hardest to serve communities.

“During these unprecedented times, partnerships like this one are vital to ensure our ongoing work with rural communities,” said Suzanne Anarde, RCAC Chief Executive Officer. “The funding will expand RCAC’s Re-Emerging Loan Fund (RELieF), which will help small businesses resume operations and re-enter markets post COVID-19.”

With more than $11 million already committed to RCAC’s COVID-19 relief efforts, this additional leverage will broaden our impact and provide creative capital where it is most needed. Communities with populations of fewer than 50,000, other nonprofit groups, Tribal organizations, farmworkers and colonias will be prioritized.

Interested borrowers can contact Juanita Hallstrom at jhallstrom@rcac.org or visit rcac.org/contact-us/

There are more than 1,100 CDFIs working in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, and Puerto Rico. OFN’s more than 300 members serve 58% people of color, 85% low-income, 26% rural, and 48% women (OFN Annual Member Survey, 2018). Nationwide, the CDFI industry manages more than $222 billion.

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About OFN 

OFN, a leading national network of CDFIs, strives to ensure low-income and other under-resourced communities have access to affordable, responsible financial products and services. Members of OFN are CDFIs that deliver responsible lending to help low-income communities join the economic mainstream.

Through 2018, OFN’s network originated $74.2 billion in financing in rural, urban, and Native communities. This financing has helped to create or maintain more than 1,560,000 jobs, start or expand more than 419,177 businesses and microenterprises, and support the development or rehabilitation of 2.1 million housing units and more than 11,500 community facility projects. For more information, visit www.ofn.org.

About Google

Google’s mission is to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful. Through products and platforms like Search, Maps, Gmail, Android, Google Play, Chrome and YouTube, Google plays a meaningful role in the daily lives of billions of people and has become one of the most widely-known companies in the world. Google is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.

About Google.org

Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues and apply scalable, data-driven innovation to solving the world’s biggest challenges. We accelerate their progress by connecting them with a unique blend of support that includes funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers. We engage with these believers-turned-doers who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a world that works for everyone—and we believe technology and innovation can move the needle.

About RCAC

Founded in 1978, RCAC provides training, technical and financial resources and advocacy so rural communities can achieve their goals and visions. RCAC serves rural communities in 13 western states and western Pacific islands. Services are available to communities with populations of fewer than 50,000, other nonprofit groups, Tribal organizations, farmworkers, colonias and other specific populations. RCAC staff provides direct services in collaboration with local and community partnerships in three program areas: affordable housing, environmental services and lending. RCAC provides loans, including small business loans, technical and economic development assistance to rural communities and nonprofit organizations in its service region. To find out more about RCAC’s Loan Fund products, visit http://www.rcac.org/programs-services/