Working Solutions is featured in a Bank of the West Means & Matters article as one of ‘4 Groups Financially Empowering Women—for the Good of the Planet.‘ As a mission-minded microlender and nonprofit CDFI, Working Solutions is proud to partner with Bank of the West to connect women with microloans, business consulting, and enhanced networking to close the gender-based wealth gap through sustainable entrepreneurship.

Working Solutions is honored to be a recipient of Grow with Google funding to support Black-owned businesses with affordable capital and personalized consulting. Thank you to Google, Google.org, and the Opportunity Finance Network, and our fellow CDFI recipients for your shared commitment to Finance Justice!

Congratulations to Working Solutions client Nick Yeast on being featured in the Bay Area Reporter during Pride Month! Check out the full-page story about Nick’s path to entrepreneurship, his partnership with Working Solutions and Wells Fargo, and his business, the Nick Ricardo Collection—a gender-neutral fragrance brand designed by Nick to "elevate the narrative of the POC, nonbinary, transgender, and gender-nonconforming individual.”

Working Solutions is honored and thrilled to have been selected by the U.S. Department of the Treasury for a CDFI Rapid Response Program award at the maximum level of $1.8 million. Today, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a total of $1.25 billion in funding for CDFIs to respond to economic challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in underserved communities.

Titi Ikhile, Director of Lending & Consulting for Working Solutions, presented as part of a panel discussion on ‘Racial Equity Strategies: How Financial Institutions Can Effectively Support Minority-Owned Small Businesses’ on June 9. Hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, this webinar explored how the banking sector can embrace strategies that better serve entrepreneurs of color and bolster local economies.

Congratulations to Working Solutions CFO Christina Travers on being named to the Crain’s New York Business 2021 List of Notable LGBTQ Leaders and Executives! We are honored to have Christina on our team, and we appreciate everything she does for our organization and the entrepreneurs we serve.

Working Solutions has been selected as one of 17 community organizations to support Black and African American entrepreneurs in San Francisco through the City’s Dream Keeper Initiative. Working Solutions will provide business retention assistance, including lease review and negotiation, to support the stabilization and recovery of San Francisco’s Black and African American small business community.

Small Business Week 2021 is here! From May 2-8, join Working Solutions and our partners for a full schedule of FREE virtual events for small business owners. All week long, you can access opportunities to learn, engage, and network. Read on to see the schedules of events and find out how to register.

The sixth and final round of the California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program is now closed, and applicant notifications are underway. The grant program is administered by the Office of the Small Business Advocate and Lendistry, and Working Solutions is honored to be one of the partners providing support with the application process. Learn more here.

Recognizing the role of CDFIs as financial first responders, the federal government is injecting historic levels of funding into our industry to support economic recovery efforts. In a new article from American Banker, Working Solutions CEO Sara Razavi and other CDFI leaders across the country share their perspectives on the impact of this funding and the importance of sustained support for CDFIs and the communities we serve.

This week (April 5-9) is California CDFI Week! Working Solutions is proud to join our fellow Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) in bringing additional visibility to our industry. Read on for exciting updates, including a visit to Oakland from Vice President Kamala Harris, a new California Senate bill that would support the state’s partnership with CDFIs, and more.