Washington, D.C. (June 23, 2023) – Wacif today announced that May 2023 was the largest single month of new small business loan production in the organization’s 36-year history, representing both the organization’s commitment to scale its investments in underserved entrepreneurs and its ongoing investment in transforming its lending.
“Wacif is committed to investing $100M in local communities, reaching 5,000 underserved entrepreneurs with advisory services, and ultimately helping them create or retain 100,000 local jobs in our region,” said Wacif Interim CEO Brendon Miller. “Scaling our lending production is a key component of that vision, our team has invested heavily in optimizing policy, procedure, and technology to deliver that scale in our production, and these results are encouraging, early signs of return on that investment.”
Maximizing quality loan volume has been a missional priority as Wacif has continued to scale its impact. Consistent with that priority, Wacif has invested heavily in comprehensively transforming its approach to underwriting, developing innovative tools and procedures to speed loan processing, and preparing to launch a new technology platform that will significantly improve and accelerate the loan application process both for borrowers and staff.
Increasing new volume is one example of Wacif’s success in scaling the organization’s impact. Wacif has deployed more than $50 million and helped local entrepreneurs create or retain more than 20,000 local jobs in the last five years. The organization’s track record of performance also includes being named 2022 and 2019 D.C. Nonprofit Organization of the Year by the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, winning the 2020 Citizenship Award from the Washington Business Journal, being identified in 2022 for the third time as one of the region’s best community nonprofits by the Catalogue for Philanthropy, and being highlighted in 2022 as the as the country’s #13 Best Nonprofit to Work For by the Nonprofit Times. The organization is in the final mile of a capital campaign to support the Anacostia Arts Center, needing approximately $5 million in additional philanthropic commitments on the approximately $40 million project.
About the Washington Area Community Investment Fund
Washington Area Community Investment Fund, Inc. (Wacif) is one of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s leading Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) focused on small business development. Wacif’s mission is to increase equity and economic opportunity in underserved communities in the Washington, D.C. area by investing knowledge, social, and financial capital in low-and-moderate-income entrepreneurs. To learn more about becoming a financial partner in the redevelopment of the Anacostia Arts Center or Wacif’s mission of equity and opportunity more generally, please email Wacif’s Chief Development Officer Megan Carras at . To learn more about Wacif’s mission, visit www.wacif.org.