ATLANTA – DECEMBER 1, 2022 -- Atlanta Emerging Markets, Inc. (AEMI) and the Center for Civic Innovation (CCI) are investing $185,000 into four Atlanta-based, mission-driven ventures: TruDiary, Helping Empower Youth (HEY!), The SAVE Institute, and Make Music Count. This capital supports businesses scale operations and expand impact in the communities they serve. These investments mark the fifth round of flexible, zero-percent interest loans through the Civic Impact Loan Fund.
The Civic Impact Loan Fund was established to intentionally invest in Atlanta-based civic ventures. Since launching in 2017, this Fund has provided more than $900,000 in loans to 20 early-stage businesses focused on community engagement, the arts, food security, wellness, and education.
Over the past five years, the Fund has made an explicit commitment to investing in underrepresented founders, specifically Black women. To date 80% of Civic Impact Loans have funded Black entrepreneurs, and 80% of all loans have gone to women. This intentional approach is a direct acknowledgement that capital has been largely inaccessible for social entrepreneurs, especially Black and brown founders.
“Social entrepreneurship is an essential tool in the fight to make Atlanta a more equitable City," said Stephen McRae, President of AEMI. "Not only are these four innovative entrepreneurs scaling their businesses and growing the local economy, but they are directly tackling key social issues in their communities. Their work is creating real impact, and Atlanta is fortunate to have such passionate and driven leaders fighting for its future.”
All four entrepreneurs are recent graduates of CCI’s Civic Innovation Fellowship program, which invests in and amplifies the work of community leaders, entrepreneurs, and movement builders who are actively solving inequality in Atlanta. The program has supported the work of over 100 community leaders, who have gone on to inform and inspire real policy change in Atlanta and beyond.
“In spite of Atlanta’s widening inequality, which is once again the worst in the country, these leaders provide tangible programs and services that give us a fighting chance to solve it.,” said Rohit Malhotra, founder and executive director of the Center for Civic Innovation. “This program invests in people who don’t just talk about community, they embody it in who they are and all they do. Truth is, the return on investment by solving inequality in our city is better than any other single investment this city could make. It will pay dividends for generations.”
The Fund utilizes an innovative character-based underwriting model that leverages AEMI and CCI's resources and relationships with social enterprises, rather than traditional underwriting measures such as credit scores, collateral, or revenue history. A goal of this fund is to inspire other investors in Atlanta to replicate this model of investing.
The partnership also leverages each organizations' services, as AEMI and Invest Atlanta provide underwriting, loan servicing, and back-office support for the Fund, while CCI leads hands-on training, operational support, and the application process for the entrepreneurs seeking capital investments.
Additional capital for the 2022 round was provided by the Atlanta office of LISC (Local Initiatives Support Corporation) and JP Morgan Chase’s Entrepreneurs of Color Fund.
The 2022 investments include:
TruDiary offers equitable, quality prenatal care for all moms – providing Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) services, such as food security, mental health support, lactation
services, and transportation.
Helping Empower Youth (HEY!) equips youth to be leaders through three initiatives – S.T.E.A.M., a leadership academy and reading program, and devises needs-based programming focused on providing alternatives and options for area youth.
Make Music Count is a math curriculum and app taught through playing the piano. Students improve math skills live and online guided by our tutors playing the latest popular songs with its STEAM and SEL curriculum and app for 2nd - 12th grade students.
SAVE Institute is an innovative alternative to traditional high school that allows for students to learn academics through projects, life experiences, agriculture, vocational training and implementing business enterprises.
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Atlanta Emerging Markets, Inc. (AEMI)
AEMI is a U.S. Treasury-certified Community Development Entity created by Invest Atlanta in 2006 that specializes in providing gap financing for projects that create jobs and revitalize Atlanta’s distressed neighborhoods. In 2016, the AEMI board of directors approved the allocation of $100,000 to finance a pilot revolving loan fund for social entrepreneurship in Atlanta.
Center for Civic Innovation (CCI)
The Center for Civic Innovation invests in outcome-driven and community-led ideas that create systems-level change. Launched in 2014, the focus of the Center for Civic Innovation remains to lead community-wide conversations on issues of inequality, to invest in the work of community leaders and to strengthen civic engagement so people’s voices and ideas remain at the center of public decision-making. Over the past 2.5 years, they’ve invested over $2 M of new capital into over 100 entrepreneurial, community-led ideas.
Invest Atlanta
Invest Atlanta is the official economic development authority for the City of Atlanta. Its purpose is to strengthen Atlanta’s economy and global competitiveness to create increased opportunity and prosperity for the people of Atlanta. Chaired by the Mayor of Atlanta and governed by a nine- member board of directors, Invest Atlanta’s programs and initiatives focus on developing and fostering public/private partnerships to create jobs, grow the economy, revitalize neighborhoods, attract investment, spur innovation and encourage entrepreneurship. To achieve these goals, Invest Atlanta leverages the benefits of bond financing, revolving loan funds, housing financing, tax increment financing and tax credits.