ECGRA Partners with Bridgeway Capital to Ignite Inner-city Business and Job Growth, Elevate Neighborhoods
Bridgeway Capital President and CEO Mark Peterson said, “We’re honored ECGRA considers Bridgeway an expert in inner-city business development and a worthy partner for regional renewal. These Ignite Erie funds are immediately available to entrepreneurs interested in starting or growing businesses in and around downtown Erie. We look forward to expanding our impact in Erie’s underserved, underinvested areas.”
Businesses and entrepreneurs interested in growing or starting a business in inner-city Erie can contact T.J. King, director of Bridgeway’s Erie office, at tking@bridgewaycapital.org or 814-451-1172 for more information.
Bridgeway Capital, a 501c3 nonprofit organization and a certified Community Development Financial Institution, makes investments that support low-income communities and the creation of living-wage jobs as a means to revitalize the regional economy. Serving 15 counties, the organization has placed more than 950 loans and $110 million in capital directly into western Pennsylvania, supporting $400 million in additional private and public investments and helping to create or retain more than 8,000 jobs. In Erie, Bridgeway has made 20 loans totaling $4.8 million and leveraging $10.4 million in additional investment since 2012; more than $1.7 million in investment has directly impacted Erie’s inner-city.
ECGRA Executive Director Perry Wood said, “Bridgeway’s staff has a wealth of experience originating and underwriting loans, engaging stakeholders, and overcoming obstacles in some of western Pennsylvania’s most challenging communities. We are certain they have the strengths our inner-city requires to thrive.”
Bridgeway, which is matching ECGRA’s $100,000, has a record of providing capital and education to ignite inner-city business and job growth. In 2014, Bridgeway established the Urban Entrepreneur Loan Program and provided $181,000 in loans to 19 urban entrepreneurs from seven of Pittsburgh’s lowest income neighborhoods. Bridgeway is launching a similar program in Erie, the Ignite Erie Urban Entrepreneur Program, and will use the economic activity generated by small business growth to revitalize downtown and its surrounding communities.
ECGRA and Bridgeway launched the Ignite Erie Urban Entrepreneur Program today at Jack Frost Donuts, 2119 Buffalo Road, Erie, an 85-year-old business nestled in one of Erie’s urban eastside neighborhoods. Last year, Bridgeway loaned Jack Frost owner, Darlene Cohen, funds to help buy the business. Darlene continues the Frost tradition of making doughnuts fresh daily using the original recipes. She is growing the business through corporate and nonprofit partnerships, exceptional service to walk-in and drive-thru customers, and community outreach. Her long-term goals include helping to improve the neighborhood surrounding Jack Frost.
Wood said, “There is a direct correlation between the state of inner-city businesses, like Jack Frost, and the living conditions of city residents. By investing in and supporting urban entrepreneurs, we can effectively and dramatically improve downtown and inner-city neighborhoods—and our regional economy.”
Bridgeway will host the Ignite Erie Urban Entrepreneur Forum May 27, 2015, 5-7 p.m. in Bagnoni Council Chambers at Erie City Hall, 626 State Street. Open to the public, the Forum will be led by a team of presenters from local community and economic development organizations, including ECGRA, Urban Erie Community Development Corporation, Gannon University Small Business Development Center, and the City of Erie. Attendees will learn how to secure the investments and know-how needed to turn their entrepreneurial aspirations into thriving small businesses and gain an understanding of how small business success will help elevate the economic vitality and quality of life in inner-city neighborhoods. RSVP at bridgewaycapital.org or by emailing akenney@bridgewaycapital.org.
Ignite Erie is, in part, the result of insight and feedback from ECGRA’s entrepreneur-centric initiative, Ignite Erie: A Day of Innovation, co-hosted by ECGRA and 26 leading innovation agencies in November 2013. The one-day event brought together more than 350 entrepreneurs, educators, policy-makers, subject matter experts, and elected officials to discuss the future of inner-city investment and innovation-based economic development. The three-part, $3.9 million Ignite Erie funding strategy also draws on economic development best practices related to the role small businesses, universities, and metropolitan regions play in the growth of the economy. The new funding streams are expected to:
- Create jobs through investments in the region’s small businesses
- Utilize small business development as a tool to catalyze new investment in inner-city neighborhoods and commercial districts suffering from blight and disinvestment
- Accelerate intellectual property-based products and technology transfer to companies through industry+university partnership models
- Provide Erie companies access to new and hybrid financial products at the micro-finance, debt, and venture capital levels
In December, ECGRA opened the Inner-city Small Business Development Grant. Eligible to apply was any 501c3 organization, Community Development Financing Institution, or Small Business Investment Company-approved entity focused on Erie County that could develop a cohesive strategy to revitalize the inner-city one neighborhood at a time. Applicants were required to demonstrate their ability to work collaboratively with banks, developers, and small business owners to ignite commercial activities in the inner-city of Erie. The grant also required a 1:1 cash match. For full grant guidelines, visit ECGRA.org.
Click here to read about the upcoming May 27 Ignite Erie urban Entrepreneur Forum!
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An impact investor, ECGRA’s mission is to elevate Erie County by galvanizing nonprofits and small business toward economic and community development. Since February 2008, ECGRA has invested more than $32 million in Erie County. Learn more at ECGRA.org or call 814-897-2690.
ECGRA PR CONTACT: Amanda Burlingham, 814-504-3037, aburlingham1@neo.rr.com
BRIDGEWAY PR Contact: Adam Kenney, 412-201-2450, ext. 19, akenney@bridgewaycapital.org
