New Markets Support Company
Black Vision Fund

Founded in 2016, Expanding Black Business Credit (EBBC) is a consortium of CEOs from both black-led and minority-focused Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs). EBBC aims to share best practices and data in a manner that can catalyze additional lending to black-owned businesses and can impact the racial wealth gap that stubbornly persists in the United States. EBBC birthed the Black Vision Fund when market analysis indicated that a pooled capital vehicle could be helpful to participating CDFIs. The Black Vision closed in March of 2022 with $29M in commitments. Ceniarth not only made a $3M capital commitment, but played an important role in the structuring and negotiations of the fund vehicle. We helped to find a blended finance solution that leveraged invaluable philanthropic money from Wells Fargo with commitments from a variety of senior lenders that included Amalgamated Bank, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and Opportunity Finance Network (OFN). Senior lenders committed long-term, low interest capital that is now being on-lent to member CDFIs. With rising interest rates, these previously fixed commitments should allow the fund to continue to deliver loans to members at a helpful cost of capital that can, in turn, be deployed to minority-led small businesses.