Washington Area Community Investment Fund

Small business advisory services - wacif provides a variety of advisory services to low-to-moderate income entrepreneurs to drive equitable and opportunity in underserved dc Area communities. Wacif's small business advisory expertise and offerings cover topics including business planning, marketing, financial statements, law, real estate and getting transaction-ready. Our offerings include group classes, one-on-one advisement on specific capacity building issues to identify areas of growth, and intensive, cohort-based programs like our ascend capital accelerator, which featured the ascend. Her cohort, with specialized support for a cohort of women entrepreneurs of color. In 2022, wacif more provided more than 1,300 units of technical assistance small business and nonprofit clients; offering specialized financial and advisory services through greater Washington, dc enterprising women of color business center, the greater Washington, dc entrepreneurs of color Fund, the Minnesota avenue main street program.

Lending program - wacif's access to capital (atc) and lending activities, which total over $12.4m assets under management (aum), provide flexible financing for small businesses owned by, operating in or serving low-to-moderate income communities. Wacif has several loan funds to support a continuum of entrepreneurs, including established business owners that are unable to access traditional financing from banks - lending over $2m. Wacif's various lending programs bridge the financing gap for underserved communities graduating to traditional lenders, while creating economic opportunity. Wacif's atc Fund is the organization's historical source for Community development financing and it's most flexible. The atc Fund remains a Community asset which began with and has been sustained for over 30 years by individual and instructional, socially responsible investors seeking positive financial and social returns from their Investment. Currently comprised of over 51 institutional and individual investors holding over 61 investments, the atc Fund is valued at approximately $3.0m.