- The partnership follows a similar investment by the Titans Foundation, which aims to provide loans to small businesses and housing developers.
- Citizens Bank's mission is to expand financial services to low-income and marginalized communities.
Citizens Bank of Nashville, with a long history of Black-owned banking, has announced a strategic partnership with The Healing Trust to provide $2 million in loans and mortgages to local small businesses.
This investment by Healing Trust is one in a series of strategic partnerships over the past several years to strengthen Citizens Bank's lending capacity and mission to build wealth and access to financial resources in Middle Tennessee's Black community and other disadvantaged populations.
“This partnership with Healing Trust is one of those situations where two like-minded organizations can come together,” said Citizens Bank CEO Sergio Ola. “By working together, we can achieve so much more.”
Foundation CEO: 'We need to invest in our own backyards'
The Healing Trust, a charitable foundation that makes grants to nonprofits in Middle Tennessee, has redirected $2 million from traditional investment vehicles into a series of deposits at Citizens Bank, which will lend the money through the bank's existing programs, including programs to assist first-time homebuyers and small business loans.
Healing Trust President and CEO Kristen Kiely Dinger said she hopes this is the start of a long-term strategic partnership between the foundation and the bank, and she hopes more charitable foundations, independent investors and local universities with large endowments will consider joining similar partnerships.
“Just as much as we invest in the stock market, we need to invest in our own backyards, our own neighborhoods, our own communities,” Keely-Dinger said. “We can get the same kind of returns and see the fruits of our investment in our own communities.”
What you need to know about accessing funds
Citizens' partnership with Healing Trust follows a similar investment by the Titans Foundation, which will deposit up to $2 million in a small business loan program and up to $5 million in a loan program targeted at qualified housing developers seeking capital.
Citizens is a registered Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) committed to expanding access to financial services to low-income communities and those without access to loans and other capital.
Additional funding from the Healing Trust, Titans Foundation and other investors will be available to eligible individuals seeking assistance with buying a first-time home, starting a small business or building a home. To learn more about the bank's lending programs, visit bankcbn.com.
“This is the most exciting time I've ever been in banking,” said Clint Story, Citizens' senior vice president of business relationships, who has been with the bank for more than 20 years.
