Greetings to everyone from the Board of Philadelphia Committee on City Policy. We are announcing that due to the Covid-19 pandemic our 2020-21 Season will be virtual via Zoom meetings.

Entrepreneurial Equity

Racial disparities in wealth and business ownership are long-standing problems with a sharp new focus these days. Two leaders in minority entrepreneurship will discuss their current strategies for funneling private dollars into potential solutions. Join our session with Della Clark of The Enterprise Center and Daniel Betancourt of Community First Fund on November 20th at 12 noon.

Della, who has led The Enterprise Center since 1992, has overseen tremendous growth at the organization, including its move into then-dilapidated WFIL Studios at 46th and Market Streets—the original home of American Bandstand. Today the Center houses a state-of-the art center for business and entrepreneurship, operates a Community Development Corporation and Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to catalyze benefits for businesses and residents, and provides debt and equity capital through The Enterprise Center Capital Corporation.

Daniel has led the Community First Fund since 1999, leading its growth into a regional CDFI with nearly $200 million under management. It has provided loans to hundreds of minority-owned and women-owned small businesses, in addition to affordable housing loans and New Markets Tax Credit loans. In July 2020, Community First merged with FINANTA, a lender and business incubator focused on immigrant and minority communities across 3 states.