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Woman-Owned Business Supported Through Wells Fargo’s Diverse Community Capital Program

Wells Fargo’s support for the Diverse Community Capital program is helping LISC energize a range of minority and woman-owned small businesses in Los Angeles. The resources from this program allows us to support a wide range of entrepreneurs that are creating jobs in the communities where we work.

For example, consider Robin Thorne, founder and CEO of CTI Environmental Inc., an engineering and construction consulting firm based out of the City of Long Beach. CTI focuses on regulatory compliance for construction companies as well as construction management, offering environmental, health and safety solutions that are tailored to clients’ needs. CTI specializes in hazardous materials assessments and issues related to OSHA compliance. It also provides project scheduling, site inspectors, document control, estimating, utility relocation design, and administrative support. 

Robin has more than 15 years’ experience as a general contractor and has secured contracts with large private and public agencies, including the City of Carson (California), Parsons Transportation Group, and Southern California Edison. She is also an active local leader in Long Beach, serving as a commissioner on the city’s Sustainable City Commission and participating on the boards of the Community Development Branch of the Long Beach YMCA, American Society of Safety Engineers, American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and Society of Military Engineers.  

As a minority and woman-owned firm, CTI stands out amongst engineering firms. Women are underrepresented as both employees and business owners in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. According to the PEW Research center, women hold 50% of STEM jobs; however, the majority of women in STEM are practitioners and technicians, with men occupying the majority of engineering jobs. Furthermore, African Americans make up only 9% of STEM workers. When it comes to business ownership in STEM and related fields, women own just 20.6% of businesses. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, ”the disparity is especially striking when it comes to women of color, whose businesses are concentrated in service industries and underrepresented in STEM-related fields.

Robin applied for a LISC/DCC loan to help her succeed with two important new business opportunities and position her company for expansion. In 2018, she won an important contract to perform disaster and response work in the wake of Hurricane Irma, which devastated Puerto Rico, the Florida Keys and nearby areas in 2017. She also won a contract with a municipality to sample and assess their levels of lead and asbestos. CTI had to purchase new equipment and hire a technical staff person to take on this new business. And given the growth potential, Robin wanted to hire business planning support to help her craft a long- term strategic plan for the company. With the LISC DCC loan, CTI was able to accomplish all of this.

Robin cites the $50,000 LISC/DCC loan as giving her the “financial confidence to compete in the larger market” and grow as a company. With the additional financial resources, CTI not only enhanced its current operations, but strengthened its ability to compete against competitors, most of which are not minority and/or women owned businesses.