National Urban League's Urban Empowerment Fund Certified as CDFI

NEW YORK (March 14, 2022) – The U.S. Department of Treasury has certified the National Urban League’s small business lending subsidiary, The Urban Empowerment Fund, as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), bolstering its ability to deliver vital capital to minority-owned small businesses in urban communities. As part of the transition, Oseremi H. Adekoye, former Assistant Director of the National Development Council, has joined the Fund as Vice President of Lending. 

 “The Urban Empowerment Fund’s certification as a CDFI is a transformational event that enhances our ability to support the small businesses that are the economic lifeblood and primary employers in struggling urban communities,” National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial said. “I’m enormously proud of this milestone, and thankful for the partnership with Charter that has allowed us to achieve it.”

Founded in 2019 to fill a credit gap that widened in the wake of the Great Recession and even further during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fund provides loans and coaching to minority-owned businesses that support urban and underserved communities. A $3 million commitment and an additional $500,000 capacity grant from Charter Communications, Inc., the Fund’s Founding Partner, was instrumental in achieving the CDFI certification. Charter’s Spectrum Community Investment Loan Fund is investing in CDFIs to support small and minority-owned businesses in economically underserved communities within its footprint. 

“Charter is an important part of the communities we serve, and we are invested in their success across our 41-state service area,” said Charter Communications Chairman and CEO Tom Rutledge. “The work of the Spectrum Community Investment Loan Fund, the Urban Empowerment Fund, and our continued partnership with Marc Morial and The National Urban League, is helping to strengthen minority-owned small businesses and provide a lasting economic impact vital to the continued development and growth of these underserved communities.”

The Fund will now begin providing direct loans to black and other minority-owned businesses in tandem with select Urban League Entrepreneurship Centers, currently operating in twelve Urban League affiliate cities.