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The Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI Fund) plays an important role in generating economic growth and opportunity in some of our nation’s most distressed communities. By offering tailored resources and innovative programs that invest federal dollars alongside private sector capital, the CDFI Fund serves mission-driven financial institutions that take a market-based approach to supporting economically disadvantaged communities. These mission-driven organizations are encouraged to apply for CDFI Certification and participate in CDFI Fund programs that inject new sources of capital into neighborhoods that lack access to financing.
As a CDFI, Suazo Business Center puts the community first and values local, economic growth.
Community Development Financial Institutions – or CDFIs – are mission-driven financial institutions that are dedicated to providing financial services to meet the needs of economically disadvantaged individuals within underserved communities.
CDFIs invest in local communities and the residents who live there by providing critically needed financing often unavailable from mainstream financial institutions.
CDFIs are certified by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund – known as the CDFI Fund. In order to become a certified CDFI, the financial institution must: have a primary mission of promoting community development; provide financial products and services; serve one or more defined low-income target markets; maintain accountability to the community it serves; and be a legal non-governmental entity.
All CDFIs share a common mission of serving low-income communities. CDFIs are commonly loan funds, credit unions, community banks, or venture capital funds.
Certified CDFIs are part of a national network promoting economic growth in America’s underserved communities by financing businesses, creating jobs, and rebuilding neighborhoods.
SALT LAKE CITY (June 8, 2023) – The U.S. Department of the Treasury has certified Suazo Business Center – the Salt Lake City, Utah-based nonprofit organization devoted to business and economic development for the region’s Hispanic, Latino, and other minority communities – as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI). Being a CDFI is an honor held by less than 1,500 financial institutions and community organizations nationwide. Suazo Business Center joins Only 5 other organizations in Utah who are CDFI-certified.
CDFI certification is a designation given by the Department of Treasury’s CDFI Fund to unique organizations that provide financial services in low-income communities and to people who lack access to financing. By building the capacity of a nationwide network of CDFIs, the CDFI Fund works to empower low-income and underserved people and communities to enter the financial mainstream. Suazo Business Center is the only organization specializing in loans to Utah’s minority owned business community.
“For 20 years, the Suazo Center has been offering direct funding resources to its clients. We are excited to be able to expand our Access to Capital programming by now having the opportunity to utilize resources from the CDFI Fund to provide financial products and services directly to our community’s underserved minority business enterprises,” said the Suazo Business Center’s President and CEO, Silvia Castro. “These resources will go toward starting and expanding businesses and creating jobs by offering financing solutions needed to provide vital services to our communities. We finance small businesses and other types of investments that spark economic growth and development in underserved communities across Utah. Using creative and innovative financing products, the Center can provide loans and financial services to communities with scarce resources.”
J.P. Morgan Chase, a longtime supporter of the Suazo Business Center, provided a generous donation to aid in developing Suazo’s bid to become a CDFI-certified lending organization. “We are pleased by the work being done at the Suazo Business Center and are encouraged by their efforts of becoming CDFI certified,” said Danielle Wright, Head of J.P. Morgan Private Bank in Utah. “The programs and support Suazo provide to Utah’s minority business community are unmatched in the state, and we are honored to play a part in that success.”
In the coming months, the Suazo Business Center will launch its CDFI loan program to expand borrowing capacity to Utah’s minority business enterprises. With offices in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and now with a location in St. George, located at Utah Tech University, the Center is Utah’s only state-wide minority-owned business assistance organization. Along with the Center’s Access to Capital program, it provides one-on-one mentorship, a series of academic classes offered in three different tracks, and community outreach through a business workshop program, offering specialized assistance in many business and economic development topics.
About the Suazo Business Center: Suazo Business Center is a minority business enterprise resource organization that focuses on the economic empowerment of the minority community through entrepreneurship and workforce development. It works to end cycles of poverty, eliminate generational wealth gaps, and build self-reliance. The Suazo Business Center has been serving the community since 2002 and has assisted in educating, growing, and developing well over 10,000 clients and small businesses. The center has created over 6,000 new small businesses and helped generate billions of dollars in revenues as an investment into Utah’s local economies. For more information, please call 801-521-1709 or visit www.suazoenter.org.
About JP Morgan Chase: JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States of America (“U.S.”), with operations worldwide. JPMorgan Chase had $3.7 trillion in assets and $303 billion in stockholders’ equity as of March 31, 2023. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management. Under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands, the Firm serves millions of customers in the U.S., and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients globally. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
Title VI and Section 504 are critical components of federal civil rights laws in the United States that promote inclusivity and prohibit discrimination.
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ensures that no person shall be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination on the grounds of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 extends these principles to individuals with disabilities, emphasizing that no qualified person with a disability shall be excluded from, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving federal funds.
For our non-profit, understanding and adhering to Title VI and Section 504 guidelines is a commitment to creating an inclusive environment, ensuring equal opportunities for all, regardless of race, color, national origin, or disability. We are dedicated to fostering diversity, preventing discrimination, and upholding the values of equality and accessibility.
960 W 1700 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84104
2036 Lincoln Ave, Ogden, UT 84401
453 S 600 E, St. George, UT 84770
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