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The Black Opportunity Fund (BOF) — a Toronto, Canada -based community-led charity — has launched BOF Capital to expand access to business and housing capital for Black entrepreneurs. The initiative includes two primary fundraising goals: a $100 million private equity growth fund to support Black-owned businesses and a $50 million shared equity housing fund to help Black Canadians purchase homes, according to The Globe and Mail. While fundraising is still in its early stages, BOF Capital intends to have both funds secured by the end of 2025. “We know where we are going for that first $150 million and now what we are doing is bringing them in and having conversations with those anchor investors to get everything papered and do the due diligence,” BOF’s CEO Craig Wellington said, per the outlet. “We have essentially been holding them back, some of them for three years.” Leaders on Bay Street — based in the center of Canada’s financial sector in Toronto — founded BOF in 2020 to help...
OneUnited Bank is launching a new program to increase the Black homeownership rate in Miami, FL. Led by Kevin Cohee, chairman and chief executive officer, and Teri Williams, president and chief operating officer, OneUnited Bank has launched its Lift Up Homeownership program. This will directly benefit first-time Black, Latino, Native American, Asian, or Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander customers in obtaining funding for a down payment on a home, the Miami Herald reports. “Our homeownership rates are lower, especially in this market,” Williams explained. “It’s too darn high to buy a home.” The bank launched the program in response to a surge in demand for financial assistance in homeownership. “People reach out all the time,” Williams said. “We said, ‘We got to do something different in 2025.’” Program participants who qualify and are accepted can receive up to $50,000 in unforgivable loans. If they remain in the home for five years, the loan won’t have to be repaid . Additionally,...
A new report has shown celebratory news for Detroit, MI. “The Growth of Housing Wealth in Detroit and its Neighborhoods: 2014-2022,” a study by the University of Michigan Poverty Solutions, has been released showing that Black homeowners in Detroit have “gained $2.8 billion in home value,” per a news release. View this post on Instagram A post shared by City of Detroit (@cityofdetroit) Beginning in 2014, the study was conducted after Detroit’s municipal bankruptcy. In July 2013, Detroit became “the largest U.S. city to file for bankruptcy,” per AP News. The news release details that the study had a goal of finding out if the city’s housing values had seen growth across those nine years, and if these improvements had been fairly distributed across Detroit neighborhoods and racial/ethnic groups. With an 94% overall increase in home value, and 80% increase for Black homeowners specifically, since the study started, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan credits residents stabilizing...
Jayson Tatum is looking to support individuals in becoming homeowners. According to a press release, SoFi will partner with the Jayson Tatum Foundation to create the SoFi Generational Wealth Fund, an ambitious $1 million commitment to improve financial wellness in families. Per KSN-News in Wichita, KS, the investment will go toward grants that will provide a down payment for homebuyers in Tatum’s hometown of St. Louis, MO. For Tatum, who was raised by his mother, Brandy Cole-Barnes, and entered the world when she was only 19, the partnership is a reminder of the resources that would have been impactful during his upbringing. “Me and my mom, we didn’t know about investments or savings accounts when we were growing up. But obviously when I got to the NBA and started to make money, we had to ask questions and learn about things,” the Boston Celtics player said, according to KSN-News. As AFROTECH previously mentioned, Tatum made a deal with Cole-Barnes that he would not be living off...
A strong coalition is a powerful weapon in the fight against systemic inequality. Homeownership Equality Research Organization (HERO), a nonprofit aimed at housing inequity, is working alongside real estate and mortgage professionals to ensure Black communities receive assistance to purchase a home.
Homeownership is a primary key to building wealth, but there is an alarming gap between Black homeowners and those who are white. Often, the underrepresented group doesn’t even have a fighting chance to successfully apply for a mortgage due to multiple factors such as little to no credit. To level the playing field for Black people in America, Ashley D. Bell and Dr. Bernice A. King have joined forces in shaking up the traditional mortgage lending industry. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ashley D. Bell (@ashleydbell)
Wells Fargo will be furthering their efforts toward racial equity in homeownership. According to a press release, the bank giant has pledged $210 million to support minority families as they navigate homeownership. “Wells Fargo has long been a leader in lending to minority families. These efforts are an important next step and will help close the homeownership gap between white and minority families created by decades of systemic inequities,” said Kristy Fercho, CEO of Wells Fargo Home Lending, according to a press release. “We are taking meaningful action by reimagining the homeownership journey to support minority families in realizing the dream of homeownership.” Wells Fargo will allocate $150 million to reduce refinancing costs and to ensure minority homeowners have access to more affordable mortgage rates. Wells Fargo’s action will be supported by a Special Purpose Credit Program (SPCP). Minority homeowners who are serviced currently by Wells Fargo will receive support to...
Jay-Z and Will Smith are betting on a rent-to-own startup company that’s making homeownership more accessible to all. According to TechCrunch, the two business moguls have joined a group of investors for a $165 million Series A equity funding round for Landis Technologies — a company that helps people transition from renting to owning — through Roc Nation and Will Smith’s Dreamers VC. “We are proud to have invested in Landis,” Smith said in a statement. “Landis is an innovative company that also has a social mission we are aligned with. We are excited to be part of a journey that helps Americans achieve homeownership through financial education.” Neil Sirni — co-founder and President of Roc Nation’s venture investment arm Arrive — echoed Smith’s statement saying, “we believe that Landis is determined to build a company that consumers can trust. Our investment demonstrates our commitment to supporting Landis on their mission to make the path to homeownership more accessible,...
On a mission to bring “simplicity and transparency to consumer banking,” digital platform Blend has become a force in the industry by making it easier to access mortgages and other financial products through the power of upgrading technology at banks and other lenders. For Blend, this mission has meant taking a hard look in the mirror at an industry with a history of creating roadblocks for Black and brown people trying to get ahead financially. As a result, Blend has doubled down and taken up the challenge of addressing financial hurdles from the growing wealth gap to inequalities in homeownership. Launching an ambitious, multi-pronged approach, Blend has invested in partnerships with those serving minority-owned institutions, while also advocating for policy changes to directly address discriminatory lending practices within underserved communities. Through The Benchmark, a video series that highlights advice and insight from leaders in various industries, Blend CEO Nima Ghamsari...
Gentrification has swept many Black neighborhoods across the nation, forcing many residents out of their own neighborhoods. While many communities struggle to regain control of their neighborhoods, South L.A. is working to be a model for how to promote Black homeownership and combat gentrification. Music manager Daniel Carter started Buy Back the Block L.A. — an initiative to help educate South L.A. residents on how to fight gentrification by buying properties in their neighborhoods — in the wake of Nipsey Hussle’s death as a call to action for his community. According to Carter, Hussle’s death “left a huge scar in the community,” Curbed Los Angeles reports . “I felt like at one point his spirit kind of burst into a million pieces and everybody got a little piece. I feel like our piece of it was this real estate thing.” Carter’s effort to continue Hussle’s mission for more Black ownership sparked a campaign to rally brokers, house flippers, and loan officers together to educate...
Entreprenuership is a risk that Monique Rodriguez was willing to take on. Business Risks Rodriguez is the co-founder of haircare brand Mielle Organics, which she launched with the help of her husband, Melvin. She shares on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast, hosted by AFROTECH™ Brand Manager Will Lucas, that her earliest risk in her entrepreneurship journey was walking away from a stable position as a registered nurse. Melvin also took a leap, leaving his corporate role. Together, they trusted in what they believed was a vision from God and created a blueprint that ultimately led to success. “We didn’t just leave our jobs and say, ‘Oh, we don’t have a plan in place or we don’t have income.’ We had to have a solid plan in place to map out how we were going to get some type of income to still keep our bills afloat and food in our kids’ mouth. So we had to plan that out. But it was a huge risk of the unknown, of both of us turning away from our jobs,” Rodriguez mentioned on the...