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Eastern Bank (Winner), Boston, MA

Entry Year: 2018
Entry Category: Economic Inclusion
Asset Size: Medium
Program Name: Business Equity Initiative

Program Summary:

Drilling down to the root cause of economic inequality, Eastern Bank is taking significant steps to address economic inclusion in the communities it serves. In April 2017, the Business Equity Initiative (BEI) launched, with a 3-year commitment of $10MM from the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, to mitigate wealth inequality by bringing together minority owned businesses, supplier partnerships, and community transformative development as a means of addressing growing income inequality in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire.

The Initiative is focused on the growth of enterprises of color and leverages Eastern’s networks and philanthropic dollars in addition to providing targeted, customizable growth tools including embedded trusted strategic advisors, operational support, growth capital, and market access to other enterprises of color. This Initiative focuses on Black and Latino owned businesses because research points to their having the greatest inequities and wealth gap.

The envisioned impact of the BEI includes stronger balance sheets, expanded and deeper supplier relationships between these enterprises and anchor institutions, job creation for residents of color, and the potential for greater civic engagement by minority business owners and their employees. By supporting these business, we feel that communities of color will begin to see the same opportunities that exist within non-economically challenged communities.