AUGUST 28, 2024 vberman@leaffund.org
Allston, MA – LEAF announced today it has received a grant from The Boston Foundation to help close the wealth gap in Boston.
“This grant will allow us to support underserved businesses across the state,” Gerardo Espinoza, LEAF Director, said today. “We look forward to building on our record providing technical assistance, procurement, and financing solutions for small businesses in the communities who need it most.” LEAF was founded in 1977 to grow community economic opportunity and provide stability.
“What makes LEAF’s work so vital isn’t just that it provides needed financing to small business owners, but that it weaves it together networks, support and knowledge to meet owners where they are,” said Orlando Watkins, Vice President and Chief Program Officer at the Boston Foundation. “Our research shows that investment capital is critical, but not enough. Coupling that capital with culturally connected networks and information, as LEAF does, enhances that impact exponentially. We are proud to partner with LEAF in this work.”
Funds for this grant come from the Boston Foundation’s Fund for Boston’s Future, an endowed pool of funds from over a century of generous contributors helping the Greater Boston community to thrive. Each year, the Boston Foundation distributes more than $15 million in discretionary grants and other resources from the Fund, stewarded by the Foundation’s Program staff and approved by the Foundation’s Board of Directors.
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LEAF is a non-profit community loan fund. For more than 40 years LEAF has been expanding economic opportunity by providing culturally competent technical assistance and finance solutions to cooperatives and underserved businesses in communities who need them most.
The Boston Foundation is one of the nation’s first community foundations. TBF aims to support, contribute to, and create well-being and opportunity within our communities. TBF is also one of New England’s largest grantmakers, supporting nonprofits in Greater Boston through our endowment and working closely with our donors to support nonprofits locally, nationally, and internationally.
