News & Press

The Responsible Business Lending Coalition (RBLC), a group of non-profit and for-profit leaders and small business advocates, joined together in 2015 to protect main street from irresponsible small business lending. On May 2nd, the group was honored by the California Reinvestment Coalition in Oakland with a Community Heroes Award.

Yesterday, Accion Opportunity Fund, alongside fellow members of the Responsible Business Lending Coalition (RBLC) and nearly 60 other organizations, submitted a comment letter outlining how California’s Department of Business Oversight (DBO) should bring true cost transparency to the small business lending market.

Recently, Accion Opportunity Fund staffers Gabe V. and Chris H. visited the district offices of Congressional representatives where Opportunity Fund has New Markets Tax Credit (NMTC) projects, to advocate for an extension to the NMTC program, which expires at the end of the 2019 government fiscal year.

Every business owner we lend to is on a journey—to turn their dream of a sustainable business into a reality. Many of our borrowers face obstacles on their journey toward success—such as a cash flow shortage or other financial setback—that may prevent them from seizing an opportunity to grow or maintain their business.

SB 1235, authored by State Sen. Steve Glazer (D-East Bay), was supported by a coalition of more than sixty organizations, including Accion Opportunity Fund, from the private sector and non-profit lenders and advocates.

Opportunity Fund CEO, Luz Urrutia, has been appointed to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) Consumer Advisory Board (CAB).

Today, we’re pleased to release new findings from our evaluation of the partnership between Opportunity Fund and LendingClub.

Today, the California State Assembly Committee on Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy (JEDE) voted in favor of Senate Bill 551, which sustains a state program that helps Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and small banks make responsible small-dollar loans to California small businesses.

We recently concluded an evaluation to measure changes in the financial and credit profiles of nearly 2,000 small businesses funded by Accion Opportunity Fund

The Longitudinal Impact Study of Accion and Opportunity Fund Small Business Lending in the U.S. is a first-of-its-kind national, longitudinal, qualitative examination of these outcomes. It reports on a nationwide cohort of 350 Accion and Opportunity Fund borrowers who were followed for as long as three years post loan in order to understand the impact…