Follow the money.
When trying to get to the heart of matters, to understand the “why” of things, the old adage to follow the money is often the most direct path to important answers, typically truths some people work hard to keep hidden.
But when it comes to U.S. Bank’s decision to support COVID-19 relief and recovery efforts, following the money trail leads to collaboration, relationships, trust and commitment that create the infrastructure to lift up communities and the smallest of small businesses.
In the Phoenix metro area, U.S. Bank Foundation’s support seeded efforts that helped secure nearly $2.4 million for microbusinesses primarily in marginalized communities. Without access to that capital and ongoing support, it’s almost certain many of those businesses would have joined the long list of economic casualties due to COVID-19. Our communities would have suffered even more.
Terry Benelli, executive director of LISC Phoenix, said U.S. Bank Foundation’s commitment to provide flexible grant funding helped a community-based partner serve small businesses during the COVID-19 crisis.
“U.S. Bank Foundation set itself apart from other resources by acting quickly and loosening typical restrictions on its grant,” Benelli said. “This action contributed to an effective emergency response.”
The spirit of collaboration between U.S. Bank and LISC, at both the national and local levels, is neither new nor simply reactive to the COVID-19 crisis. U.S. Bank Arizona Market President, Joshua Shade, said the organizations have long-established relationships through community revitalization work.
“We have a partnership with LISC going back over a decade in Phoenix,” Shade said, adding that part of the U.S. Bank Foundation Community Possible Grant Program focuses on economic and workforce development, small businesses and safe and affordable housing.”
“These areas just sync up really well with LISC, both at the national and local level,” Shade said. “Having that relationship over the last 10 years and having that connectivity gives us a lot of confidence while we are working towards a common cause.”
“U.S. Bank has provided various forms of capital to LISC across the country, including through its partnerships with its subsidiary U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation,” added Garrett Murdock, U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation vice president.
In his role at the bank, Murdock serves as a relationship manager for LISC national, and is a member of the LISC Phoenix Local Advisory Committee. Murdock notes that U.S. Bank is one of the top bank capital providers to LISC.
“We were extremely pleased to see a meaningful portion of U.S. Bank Foundation’s support to LISC nationally be allocated to LISC Phoenix in support of the local community here,” he said.
As the magnitude of the COVID-19 crisis was coming into focus, U.S. Bank was at the table as a partner willing to offer financial assistance. Neither LISC Phoenix nor local bank officials knew early on that U.S. Bank Foundation COVID-19 relief funds would land in the Phoenix-area transit corridors. But in hindsight, and given the long history of successful partnership, they aren’t surprised either.
The U.S. Bank Foundation money trailhead begins with the announcement in March that it would allocate $30 million to human service organizations and local nonprofits to support COVID-19 relief and long-term recovery in communities. The Foundation designated $4 million of that allocation to three national organizations focused on small-business recovery. LISC was one of them.
LISC national chose LISC Phoenix as one of its affiliates to put the U.S. Bank dollars to good use in communities. LISC Phoenix then selected RAIL CDC as a community-based organization that had strong working relationships with microbusinesses in its primary area of focus, the Valley Metro light-rail corridor.
“RAIL moved quickly to serve the communities that they work in everyday which were the businesses most impacted by the unanticipated closures due to the virus,” Benelli said. “The community knew what was needed to pivot business operations. With the support of RAIL and U.S. Bank Foundation resources, businesses began recovery strategies immediately.”
Before the COVID-19 crisis, RAIL was reaching out to small businesses in Mesa and Tempe, according to Laura Suarez, executive director of the community development corporation. The intensity of community outreach work increased when the pandemic hit, she said.
When COVID-19 upended business as usual, Suarez recalls hearing the fear in the voices of business owners during merchant meetings – fears of not being able to pay employees, fears of losing their businesses. Mesa-based RAIL CDC tailored its assistance to what merchants needed to secure capital and to position their businesses for fast-changing social and economic realities.
“We said we really are here to help you,” Suarez said. “It sucks that it had to be during COVID, but we’re here for you. And that has opened the door for us to go in to continue our work. RAIL really built that trust with them.”
U.S. Bank Foundation grant funding allowed RAIL to ramp up its community resilience work. For example, when RAIL realized that for many businesses barriers to access programs like the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) began at step one of the online process, they figured out how to provide technical assistance to help business owners successfully submit applications. That involved working with several accountants and tax preparers of business owners to upload documents.
It was an all-hands-on-deck endeavor that paid off. RAIL provided technical assistance to more than 200 businesses, more than 90 percent owned by people of color, in the light-rail corridor. Businesses accessed nearly $2.4 million in public funds, including $1,760,404 in forgivable PPP loans.
“The RAIL CDC’s work is just so important in helping many small businesses succeed, and the organization’s partnership with LISC is a great way to ensure that those available resources are channeled to the businesses in the market that needed it and could use the support,” Shade said. “We’re thrilled with the results.”
The multiplier effect small businesses have on local economies is well-known. U.S. Bank Foundation grant money fueled microbusiness activity in communities that needed financial investment the most.
Arturo Pérez, U.S. Bank vice president and community affairs manager for the Arizona, Las Vegas and New Mexico markets, has worked with Benelli on community development efforts for 20 years. With LISC Phoenix’s involvement, there was comfort and confidence that the COVID-19 relief and recovery seed money would be put to important, successful and strategic use in helping the bank “do the right thing,” he said.
“At its bare minimum, the success of these small, tiny, micro-businesses is really good for everybody,” Pérez said. “It’s good for the neighborhood. It’s good for the employees. It’s good for the banks. If they become sound, vibrant customers, it’s good for us.
“That’s really what we want. We want everyone to be able to succeed. As much as we can, we’ll give them the tools to help them along the way.”