The Social Justice Fund of the Joe and Clara Wu Tsai Foundation has announced the launch of a $2.5 million loan fund that will provide support for Brooklyn's Black, Indigenous, and people of color business owners and help drive an equitable post-pandemic recovery.

In partnership with two community development financial institutions, Brooklyn Alliance Capital and TruFund Financial, along with the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, the Brooklyn EXCELerate Loan Program will offer rapid recovery loans of up to $15,000 at no interest to businesses that were able to stay open through the pandemic to cover expenses such as equipment, renovations, and rent; and restart loans of between $15,000 and $100,000 at 2 percent interest to qualifying businesses that closed temporarily or substantially reduced their hours and are facing significant challenges to reopening due to insufficient operating capital. Loans will be available to business owners whose credit scores were negatively affected by the pandemic, will require neither collateral nor guarantor, and will be awarded based on references provided by local community members.

According to the foundation, African-American entrepreneurs had to close their doors at more than twice the rate of their white counterparts during the pandemic, and BIPOC business owners faced inequitable access to capital long before the crisis.

The foundation also announced the appointment of Gregg Bishop as executive director of the Social Justice Fund, which it launched in 2020 with a ten-year, $50 million commitment. Most recently Bishop served as interim executive director of the Coro New York Leadership Center, a civic leadership organization that fosters diverse talent across the five boroughs, and as commissioner of New York City's Department of Small Business Services.

"As the city comes back from the pandemic, we have an opportunity to do it better than we did before, to address some of the longstanding barriers preventing the accumulation of Black wealth and ensure that everyone can equally benefit from the capital that is coming into our city anew," said Bishop. "Which is to say that if you qualify, we hope you will apply. We hope you will make a special effort to support BIPOC businesses as our city recovers. I am deeply grateful to Clara Wu Tsai and Joe Tsai for their visionary support of Brooklyn entrepreneurs, and look forward to an exciting phase ahead."