
Celebrating Black History Month: Q and A with JPMorgan Chase’s Christopher Beene
Christopher Beene at JPMorgan Chase discusses what Black History Month means to him and how the company looks beyond the month of February to advance racial equity.
Christopher Beene at JPMorgan Chase discusses what Black History Month means to him and how the company looks beyond the month of February to advance racial equity.
JPMorgan Chase is helping to drive sustainable changes through its five-year $30 billion racial equity commitment. With a business-led approach, this commitment aims to help address key drivers of the racial wealth divide in Black, Latino and Hispanic communities by investing in them directly.
Entrepreneurship is booming in Black neighborhoods across the country. Owning a business is one of the fastest avenues to creating wealth for U.S. Black households.
Vermont Slauson Economic Development Corporation honors local women leaders and held a 60-Second women-owned business pitch competition to celebrate Women’s History Month.
Los Angeles has the largest small business economy in the U.S., with over 250,000 small businesses.
However, there’s a shortage of capital available for these small businesses, and entrepreneurs of color are disproportionately affected.
Earlier this month, the Entrepreneurs of Color Fund (EOCF) program was launched in Los Angeles to address this shortage. With $2.65 million in funding to support historically disadvantaged small business owners in Los Angeles, the fund is designed to help increase the availability of capital and business resources to strengthen small businesses owned by underserved entrepreneurs.
Over the past month, racial equity has been a key part of our national dialogue as we observed the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death, the 100-year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre and Juneteenth, the oldest nationally recognized commemoration marking the end of slavery in the United States.
On Wednesday, June 2, JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, visited the new community center branch; he described the cultural evolution of Chase and how the institution looks to become a pillar of growth in the Crenshaw community.
Managing your money can be overwhelming but it doesn’t need to be.
Chase Community Impact Branch plans to chart your path forward and meet your financial goals
Last week, philanthropic organizations and other funders joined hands to launch the California Black Freedom Fund (CBFF), a new $100 million initiative that will provide resources to Black-led organizations in the state of California over the next five years.
Mellody Hobson, a Princeton graduate who in 2019 earned the Woodrow Wilson Award, the university’s highest honor, was named Chairwoman of the Board of Starbucks.
“All Americans deserve equitable access to affordable housing and the physical, emotional and financial security it represents,” said Lisa Rice, CEO, National Fair Housing Alliance. “JPMorgan Chase’s new commitments will help make owning or renting a reality for more Black and Latinx families, whose housing access has been impeded by decades of systemic racism and are now disproportionately affected by the impact of COVID-19. Addressing the affordability crisis, now overlaid with the pandemic, will require many players on many fronts, and these commitments are concrete, meaningful steps in the right direction.”
My phone buzzed. Like every other text message, I grabbed my phone immediately to read it. But this was no ordinary text. I looked down and read three words that suddenly meant someone’s life was about to change forever:
“I chose Berkeley”
JPMorgan Chase has made a $160,000 commitment to the Brotherhood Crusade’s COVID-19 community relief efforts in response to the increasing economic disparities in South Los Angeles caused by the pandemic. The firm’s investment will focus on new workforce skills development and training. The funds will help the Brotherhood Crusade to deliver coaching, training and career transition to support disconnected youth, and underemployed and unemployed families impacted by the COVID-19 crisis across South Los Angeles.
JPMorgan Chase announced today that it has received approval for an additional 211,000 loans through “Round Two” of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), totaling about $15 billion to its small business customers. In total, the firm is expected to fund about $29 billion to over 239,000 businesses under the PPP since its inception a little over three weeks ago, helping to support 3 million employees. More specifically about JPMorgan Chase’s lending through the PPP: · The average loan amount is $123,000 · About 50% of the loans went to companies with fewer than 5 employees · Over 75% of the