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U.S. Treasury Funding Gives Industrial Bank Boosts In Helping Minorities And Lower-Income Communities

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U.S. Treasury Funding Gives Industrial Bank Boosts In Helping Minorities And Lower-Income Communities

By Angela Swinson Lee, Special to The Washington Informer

2022 is proving to be a big year for B. Doyle Mitchell Jr., president and CEO of Industrial Bank.

Not only is he celebrating a milestone birthday, but funding from the federal government and a community partnership may help to take the district’s Black-owned bank to the next level.

Last month the bank received $82 million from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Emergency Capital Investment Program.

The program was established to encourage financial institutions in low- and moderate-income communities to augment their efforts to support small businesses and consumers in their communities, according to the Department of Treasury’s website.

The program enables the Agency to provide up to $9 billion in capital directly to depository institutions that are certified Community Development Financial Institutions or minority depository institutions to provide loans, grants, and forbearance for small businesses, minority-owned businesses, and consumers.

Mitchell said the capital funding is historic.

“Minority banks, typically African American banks, can’t go out to established markets and raise capital. Non-minority community banks can say “hey, we need to raise $30 million in equity so we can grow.” So, they pass the plate around to their friends and when the plate comes back, they have $30 million. Our banks can’t do that,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the funding will allow the institution to expand.

“We’ll use the capital to grow. We’ll use it to invest in our infrastructure and technology. The biggest thing is growth because the more we can grow, the more capital we will generate. It gives us the ability to make larger loans in our community, because truthfully, it costs the same amount to make a $100,000 loan as it does a $1 million loan,” Mitchell said. “And like most Black banks around the country, we have more loans with smaller loan sizes than our counterparts.”

Mitchell said the capital funding will also have a positive impact on the community.
“It’s a great opportunity for Black banks across the country. It gives us much more capacity to make an exponential impact in our community for individuals, homeowners, potential homeowners, businesses and other organizations in our community.”

In addition to the capital funding, the Bank is making use of property it owns in Prince George’s County to create a Largo Innovation Campus. Office space has been consolidated so all operational and executive staff can be in the same location. Since all the space was not needed, alliances were created.

Mark Lawrence, founder and managing partner of the consulting firm Inncuvate, has partnered with the Bank for an initiative that will train and develop youth and assist entrepreneurs.

The post U.S. Treasury Funding Gives Industrial Bank Boosts In Helping Minorities And Lower-Income Communities appeared first on theseattledigest.com.

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