Truist and Truist Foundation strengthen Texas’ racially diverse small business ecosystem

In early December, Truist Foundation announced a $3.5 million grant to PeopleFund, a Texas-based Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and nonprofit 501(c)(3) that strives to create economic opportunity and financial stability for underserved people by providing access to capital, education and other resources to build healthy small businesses.

Truist Foundation’s grant provides long-term sustainability for PeopleFund’s Black, Indigenous, Person of Color (BIPOC) Small Business Accelerator — a program that provides business owners the capital, resources and network to start and grow their businesses and attain economic mobility. The accelerator was piloted in 2021 with a $100,000 grant from Truist Foundation and a $3 million low-interest loan from Truist Community Capital. These seed investments acted as catalysts for additional support.

“The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately devastated underserved Black and racially diverse small business owners. We are honored to support PeopleFund, an organization working to provide funding and unique services for diverse small business owners across Texas,” said Lynette Bell, president of Truist Foundation.

These Texas-based grants are a part of Truist and Truist Foundation’s $120 million joint commitment to strengthening and supporting small businesses nationwide, with a focus on Black-, Latino- and women-owned businesses. By generating greater equity for small business owners, PeopleFund can continue to create jobs, economic opportunity and generational wealth in communities across Texas where these small businesses operate.

Truist Foundation also contributed $500,000 to SERJobs and, together with Truist Charitable Fund and Truist’s Community Reinvestment Act department, donated $500,000 to Junior Achievement. These grants will fund programs that allow the organizations to strengthen small businesses and build career pathways to economic mobility through education, training, employment and empowerment services for underserved communities in Texas.