As many small businesses face a deeply uncertain future due to the pandemic, minority-owned small businesses are especially impacted. Black and African American-owned small businesses are closing at nearly twice the rate of the industry, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.

An industry-leading commitment by Wells Fargo is aiming to help mitigate these challenges, particularly for racially and ethnically diverse entrepreneurs. The new Open for Business Fund will donate approximately $400 million to nonprofit organizations that help small business owners keep their doors open, retain employees, and rebuild.

Wells Fargo is donating all gross processing fees from the Paycheck Protection Program to fund the program. The first grants will allocate $28 million to nonprofit community lenders aimed at empowering Black-owned small businesses.

The Expanding Black Business Credit Initiative (EBBC) received a grant and intends to provide funding to City First Bank D.C., which helps D.C.-area small business owners get funding they might not otherwise have access to. This funding can be critical to helping small business owners in this area keep their doors open in the face of the pandemic.

Funding to the EBBC will also support the launch of the Black Vision Fund to increase the flow of capital to Black-focused CDFIs for transformational work to close the racial wealth gap in African American communities.

Learn more about Wells Fargo’s Open for Business Fund.