Impactful Conversations: Discussing Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs)

In this episode of Impactful Conversations, Michael Santos, a social enterprise and impact investing associate in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office, interviews Bulbul Gupta, the president and CEO of Pacific Community Ventures (PCV), a Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) fund based in Oakland, California.

Bulbul explains her road to the position and how CDFIs were born of an effort to help rectify “the incredible discrimination, systemic racism and redlining in the financial industry against black and brown communities.”

“We tell our small business owners that we’re here when banks and SBA lending fails them,” she said.

Find out what Bulbul was surprised to learn is not a metric required for CDFI certification, and learn about the business advising program the Bulbul says sets PCV apart from other CDFIs.

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