(This bank that's not a commercial bank, but rather has been created using taxpayers dollars, appears to have denied a loan to an African American entrepreneur, Calvin Jamerson, because he DARED to criticize Black leadership on Larry's show. The implication is that Mr. Jamerson may not receive a loan that he/his associates are otherwise qualified for because he stated his opinions on the Larry Elder show. )

Los Angeles Community Development Bank
 
(Not a Commercial Bank) P.O. Box 480017 Los Angeles, CA 90048
1-888-LA-CDBANK 1-888-522-3226

Fact Sheet
 
MISSION
The mission of the Los Angeles Community Development Bank (LACDB) is to promote a positive investment environment and sustainable jobs for residents and others within the Los Angeles Supplemental Empowerment Zone. The LACDB, working in partnership with community institutions, businesses and civic leaders, will provide non-traditional loans, venture capital, technical assistance and the connections that successfully attract, start and expand business opportunities.
 
HISTORY
As part of an expansion of the federal Empowerment Zone and Enterprises Community Program, Los Angeles was selected as the site of a unique and experimental community development bank. The Los Angeles region was granted a Supplemental Empowerment Zone, making it eligible for special economic development funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
 
In 1995, HUD began working in close partnership with the City and County of Los Angeles, community lenders, and a handful of commercial banks to create the LACDB. Numerous economic development groups in the zone area participated in the early cooperative planning process. By January 1996, arrangements were finalized with HUD to obtain access to $1 million in working capital to assist with start-up operations for the LACDB.
 
ZONE COMMUNITY
The zone encompasses a geographical area 19 square miles in size and including communities such as Pacoima, Boyle Heights, the East Downtown Corridor, the Historic Corridor, Central Avenue, the Slauson Industrial Corridor, the Broadway District, Watts, and Firestone and Willowbrook.
 
The LACDB is guided by representatives of the communities that it serves, with the goal of providing financial backing to community-based business enterprises that will in turn provide the quality employment opportunities essential to the rejuvenation of these neighborhoods.
 
BORROWER PROFILE
The bank plans to make loans to new or growing business within the zone. The bank also expects to make loans through intermediaries, such as established community lending programs, to finance job-creating businesses in the area. In addition, the LACDB will partner with commercial banks as a co-lender, putting together non-traditional loan packages of multiple lenders or loan guarantors to bring near-bankable loans up to standards required by commercial banks.
 
LOAN PROGRAMS
The LACDB plans to operate a variety of programs to assist new and existing businesses, including the following (see LACDB Products Fact Sheet for more detailed information):
 
  • Microloans
  • Business loans
  • Commercial real estate loans
  • Commercial loan guarantee program
  • Loan loss reserve program
  • Venture capital
  • Business and technical support programs
  • Economic development grants
 
FUNDING
The LACDB will be capitalized with $430 million in HUD-approved economic development assistance funds. Capital will come from a combination of $115 million in city and county Economic Development Initiative (EDI) grants and $315 million in HUD loan guarantees. In addition to federal money, commercial banks have committed to lend up to $210 million for LACDB-financed projects.
 
LOAN ELIGIBILITY
Any individual, organization or company interested in doing business in the zone, and who meets the lending standards and criteria of the LACDB, as well as HUD program requirements, will be eligible to receive LACDB financing. The bank will not reserve loans for minority-owned businesses only; there will be no ethnic restrictions to eligibility.
 
Like a commercial bank, the LACDB must guard against loan defaults if it is to meet its own financial obligations and recycle funds from repaid loans into the community. Thus, the LACDB will lend money only to businesses that have the capacity, collateral and character to repay their loans, although its lending criteria will be more flexible than that of commercial banks.
 
For instance, the LACDB may consider loan applicants that haven't been in business as long, or that have a shorter history of showing a profit, or that have higher levels of existing debt or a credit record that isn't as strong as commercial banks typically would require. In fact, its loans often may be to applicants that have been turned down previously by commercial banks or other lenders, such as the Small Business Administration.
 
FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES
The LACDB will work with existing community-based economic development groups to help identify projects and businesses that fit LACDB criteria to receive financial assistance. These groups will serve as financial intermediaries and will be a direct link between the community and the bank. Financial intermediaries will either serve as lending agents for the LACDB or as loan packages and will have a contractual relationship with the bank. The LACDB Board of Directors is currently working with HUD and the city and county to define who is eligible to participate as a financial intermediary, what their role will be and how their activities will be monitored.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS
 

Jae Min Chang

President and Publisher
The Korea Times-Hankook Ilbo
 
Martha Diepenbrock
Independent Consultant for youth & national service organizations
 
Debra S. Esparza
Director
USC Business Expansion Network
 
Denise G. Fairchild, Ph.D.
President
Neighborhood Strategies Group
 
John M. Gallarza
Vice President and Branch Administrator
TransWorld Bank
 
Antonio Gonzalez
President
Southwest Voter Registration Education Project &
Southwest Voter Research Institute
 
Ozie B. Gonzaque
Chairperson
Housing Authority Commission
 
John Gray
Executive Vice President
First Interstate Bank of California
 
Christopher W. Hammond
President
Capital Vision Equities
 
Pastor Noel Jones
Pastor
Greater Bethany Community Church
 
Alfred Osborne
Director
Harold Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies
and Associate Professor, John E. Anderson Graduate
School of Management, UCLA
 
Gilbert T. Ray, Esq.
Partner
O'Melveny & Meyers
 
Teryl Watkins
President & Director of Development
Watts Labor Communications Action Committee
 
http://www.ezec.gov/invest/labank.html

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