Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has announced a $20 million investment from PNC Bank in support of long-term community investment strategies.

The funding includes $10 million as a flexible three-year term loan, and $10 million as a 10-year Equity Equivalent (EQ2) investment, a debt tool that offers nonprofit community development financial institutions the opportunity to raise capital with features that are similar to an equity investment. The investment will support a range of new and existing community investment efforts in rural counties across the country, as well as 38 metro areas, including small business programs for entrepreneurs without ready access to conventional financing—such as those owned by women, people of color, and veterans.

“We continue to see that patient, flexible, and risk tolerant EQ2 financing has become an increasingly important lever for community lenders to attract additional private capital into under-resourced communities,” said PNC Community Development Banking managing director Rey Ocañas. “With this 10-year commitment, PNC remains laser-focused on our efforts to strategically deploy low-cost capital into transformative initiatives that advance economic empowerment and prosperity where it’s needed the most.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/Geber86)