Bank of America pledges $100K for CT women’s business grants

STAMFORD — With funding from the Women’s Business Development Council, the downtown Lorca Coffee Bar purchased a convection oven that powered a jump in sales last year.

Officials at the Stamfordheadquartered WBDC are aiming to help many other small businesses overcome the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new infusion from one of the country’s largest companies will bolster that mission.

Bank of America announced Monday a $100,000 contribution for counseling, technical assistance and other services to support future rounds of the WBDC’s Equity Match Grant Program. Launched in 2020, the initiative has provided $924,000, across 98 grants, to women-owned businesses in Connecticut.

“We’ve all come together,” Roberta Rich, Bank of America’s consumer bank market leader in lower Fairfield County, said at a press conference at Lorca, at 125 Bedford St. “Whether it’s a small-business owner or a not-for-profit organization, we’re working together to better the communities that we serve.”

Bank of America’s contribution highlights the corporate support for Equity Match. Among other major companies that have provided funding, JPMorgan Chase announced a $300,000 commitment in January.

Any women-owned small businesses in the state can apply for the Equity Match grants, which each total up to $10,000. The funds are allocated to “clearly defined projects that will have a measurable impact on the business, its growth and profitability,” according to WBDC’s website. The grants cannot be used toward operating expenses, payroll or real estate improvements. Applicants are required to provide a minimum 25 percent match.

Within the next couple of weeks, WBDC officials plan to announce the recipients of the fourth round of Equity Match grants. Applications for the next round of grants are expected to open by the end of May.

“This (Bank of America) grant is going to help us with the next few rounds of operational support that we need to help people with that application process,” WBDC founder and Chief Executive Officer Fran Pastore said. “It’s absolutely critical that we do that piece of this to make sure that these grants are equitable. Some people need more help than others.”

Many state officials are enthusiastic supporters of the WBDC, as highlighted by the attendance Monday of Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, Stamford Mayor Caroline Simmons and state Sen. Patricia Billie Miller, DStamford.

WBDC programs such as Equity Match have helped to offset a bias in other business-assistance programs toward male-owned and white-owned businesses, Bysiewicz said. About 30 percent of the Equity Match grants have gone to minority-owned businesses.

“Our governor loves public-private partnerships and when we get to work with nonprofits,” Bysiewicz said. “This program is all of that.”

Miller and Simmons gave a similar assessment.

“The government can’t do it all, so we need partners like you (Bank of America),” Miller said.

Simmons said, “I couldn’t be prouder to have businesses like Lorca in our community. These businesses are the lifeblood of our economy.”

With a $10,000 Equity Match grant that Lorca received about a year and a half ago, the business was able to buy a $13,000 convection oven. The new apparatus has significantly sped up the preparation of popular items such as sandwiches, empanadas and quiches, said Lorca owner Leyla Dam. The oven played a large part in Lorca’s sales increase in 2021, a total that was 32 percent higher than in 2018, according to Dam.

“For me, the WBDC has been integral. I don’t know what I would have done without them — especially in the very beginning of the pandemic,” said Dam, who started Lorca in 2012. “I’m so honored to be able to keep this place in business thanks to you all and to keep the community going. It’s been amazing to watch people come back to this place.”