Starbucks and OFN Launch "Create Jobs for USA"
(Hanover, MD, November 7, 2011) Starbucks Coffee Company
is teaming up with Opportunity Finance Network® (OFN) to help
create and preserve jobs in America through the "Create Jobs
for USA Fund," a new philanthropic initiative that pools donations
from Starbucks customers and concerned citizens into a nationwide
fund for community business lending. The innovative program will
provide grants to Community Development Financial Institutions
(CDFIs) and OFN members which, in turn, will make loans to
for-profit and non-profit businesses and community service
organizations (like charter schools) to create and preserve jobs in
low-income, low-wealth, and other disadvantaged communities
throughout the U.S. CDFIs can apply to the Fund for a grant
up to $500,000 based on asset size and pipeline and must use the
grants to make loans to community businesses to assist in job
creation and retention.
Charter Schools Development Corporation (CSDC), as a member of
OFN and the only CDFI focused exclusively on the financial and
facility needs of charter schools in educationally and economically
underserved communities, has been invited to apply for a grant.
CSDC's nonprofit charter school clients are the very epitome of
entrepreneurial small businesses founded and operated by
community-focused leaders. A charter school often becomes the nexus
around which a neighborhood is revitalized and transformed by
providing a cornerstone that creates jobs for local residents and
opportunities for children, while attracting additional investment
for surrounding economic development.
The Create Jobs for USA Fund was initially seeded with a $5
million contribution from the Starbucks Foundation. Anyone can
support the initiative by making a donation to the Create Jobs for
USA Fund, either online at www.createjobsforUSA.org
or at one of the nearly 7,000 Starbucks stores across the
country. 100% of the donations will support the Create Jobs
for USA Fund and be used to make grants to CDFIs. Donors who
contribute $5 or more will receive a red, white, and blue wristband
with the message "Indivisible." The wristbands are individually
handmade in the U.S.A. and all component materials are manufactured
by U.S. suppliers, so the effort is also helping support American
manufacturing jobs.
OFN, the nation's leading network of
high-performance CDFIs, has also announced that CSDC is a finalist
for a $25,000 grant award to CDFIs that have demonstrated
excellence in financing. The Wachovia Wells Fargo NEXT Awards
for Opportunity Finance is the nation's largest and most
prestigious awards program for the CDFI industry. It's
managed by OFN in partnership with the Wachovia Wells Fargo
Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation. Winners will be announced
at OFN's Annual Conference on November 15th in
Minneapolis (see related announcement under "
CSDC Named Finalist for Wachovia Wells Fargo NEXT Award for
Opportunity Finance").
