Charter Communications announces eight-figure investment in small biz
STAMFORD — Cableand-internet giant Charter Communications is creating a loan fund that it will use to invest at least $10 million to help finance small businesses and spur job growth in underserved communities within its 41-state operating footprint.
The Spectrum Community Investment Loan Fund will invest the $10 million by the end of 2021, offering loans of up to $1 million to each participating community development financing institution. In addition, Charter said that it will provide each CDFI with an additional grant, to help cover training and technical expertise for small businesses.
Stamford-based Charter said that it expects its $3 million first-phase investment in New York, Texas and Ohio to be combined with more than $12 million in capital from other sources and contribute to the creation of hundreds of new jobs in those states.
“Charter is committed to having a meaningful impact in the communities where our customers and employees live and work, and the Loan Fund is the latest Spectrum Community Impact program designed to do just that,” Charter CEO and Chairman Tom Rutledge said in a statement Thursday. “Through these investments in local small businesses, Charter will positively impact financially underserved communities by providing growth capital, creating new jobs and strengthening businesses.”
During the first half of 2020, the loan fund plans to invest $1 million in Pursuit Community Finance in New York, $1 million in Texasbased PeopleFund, as well as $1 million in an Ohiobased CDFI later this year.
“Pursuit welcomes the Charter investment, which will help catalyze responsible lending to neighborhood small businesses in communities throughout New York state,” Steve Cohen, president of Pursuit Community Finance, said in a statement. “It is noteworthy to have a public company express a commitment to community lending alongside our more typical bank investors.”
PeopleFund said that it will leverage each dollar from Charter with $4 from other sources to generate a total of $5 million in investments in small businesses across Texas.
“This will have an enormous positive economic impact in the communities where these businesses operate by creating hundreds of jobs and helping hundreds of families achieve financial stability and independence,” Gustavo Lasala, president and CEO of PeopleFund, said in a statement.
By the end of the first quarter of 2021, the loan fund intends to cumulatively invest an additional $4 million with CDFIs in California, Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin.
It plans to make an initial $7 million in investments in states covering about 70 percent of its approximately 29 million customers. The company operates in every state except Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Iowa, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Utah.
Charter does not plan to make any investments in Connecticut in the program’s first round.
Ranking as the No. 70 company on last year’s Fortune 500 list, Charter is headquartered at 400 Atlantic St., in downtown Stamford. A few blocks away, it is building a 500,000-squarefoot headquarters next to the city’s main Metro-North Railroad station. It plans to move in next year to the new building.