Monthly Archives

March 2022

Love0
By CNote, Migration V2

Impact Platform CNote Announces Conversion to Public Benefit Corporation

New legal designation affirms CNote’s longstanding commitment to closing the wealth gap and uplifting communities with sustainable solutions.

 March 30, 2022 // Oakland, CA // CNote, a woman-led impact platform, has announced its official conversion to a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC).

 Since its founding in 2016, CNote’s fixed income and cash products have streamlined millions in scalable investments from individuals and corporations. Dollars invested and deposited on the CNote platform are deployed with mission-driven financial institutions to fund underserved communities and BIPOC entrepreneurs in line with the firm’s mission to close the wealth gap.

A supermajority of CNote’s stockholders voted to formalize a transition to a PBC, further aligning the company with its practice of enhancing equitable community development through financial empowerment. CNote’s specific public benefit purpose is to advance greater economic and social justice for underserved communities by unlocking access to impact investments. Now, unlike traditional corporations that primarily focus on maximizing only shareholder value, CNote can also ensure that decisions are made in light of achieving this specific purpose.

“Becoming a Public Benefit Corporation has allowed the company’s charter to reflect CNote’s core values that motivate us every day,” said Yuliya Tarasava, COO and co-founder of CNote. “This conversion means CNote will always be pushing for greater capital access for underserved groups that have long been neglected by the financial mainstream.”

As a Delaware Public Benefit Corporation, CNote’s Board of Directors will have a mandate to balance the economic interests of stockholders with its stated public benefit purpose, allowing it to take into account the material interests of all stakeholders affected by the company’s operations, including the underserved communities CNote supports and CNote’s partner financial institutions, clients, and employees.

 

About CNote

CNote is a women-led impact platform on a mission to close the wealth gap through financial innovation. Using the power of technology and a community-first framework, CNote enables corporations and individuals to efficiently invest at scale in fixed income and time deposit products that further economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and climate change initiatives. As part of its offering, CNote delivers regular reporting on the social impact of deposits and investments made through its platform. A Certified B Corporation, CNote was a B Lab “Best for the World” honoree in 2019 and was named “Best Women-Owned Business” by the United Nations’ Women’s Empowerment Principles program in 2020.

Love0
By Community Partners, Migration V1

Meet Michelle Corson, ‘The Car Lady’ Behind the CDFI That Gets Clients On the Road

Since she was a little girl in Texas, Michelle Corson has always loved cars, something that befuddled her parents. “It’s not like I was chauffeured around town or anything,” Michelle laughed. “My mom drove a Honda and my dad drove a Buick, and they were like ‘who are you and why do you like cars so much?’” Despite her inexplicable interest in automobiles, Michelle decided to pursue a career in finance, investing, and real estate development. However, after 25-plus years of carving out a successful path for herself in that world, Michelle had the epiphany that many 40-somethings experience: she wanted to do something different.

Michelle Corson, founder and CEO of On The Road Lending- Photo Credit: On The Road Lending

That something different turned out to be launching an impact investing company called Champion Impact Capital in 2011. According to Michelle, she’d read an article earlier that year about impact investing, and she thought the idea of leveraging investment capital to solve problems was brilliant. With that, she began to look at issues that could be addressed using creative finance, which brought her full circle back to her childhood obsession: cars. Through her initial research in 2012, Michelle discovered that no one was working on transportation, despite the fact that having access to a personal vehicle provides people with better access to food, healthcare, education, and employment options. 

The statistics were eye-opening. Michelle learned that, on average, it takes people five times longer to get anywhere on mass transit than it does in a car in the United States. Similarly, according to an Urban Institute study, unreliable transportation is the number one reason for people losing their jobs. Additionally, people who have their own car are twice as likely to get a good job and four times as likely to keep it as someone without a vehicle. Michelle learned so much about mass transit that she wrote a book on the subject so that she could share her findings with others. “I think that sometimes we focus on the wrong things when we’re trying to solve problems,” Michelle said. “We’re so focused on the end, that we make things unnecessarily hard when it can just be a simple, practical solution.”

Michelle Corson at a client car delivery. Photo Credit: On The Road Lending

With that practical-solution mindset, Michelle launched On the Road Lending in March 2013, which seeks to get affordable, fuel-efficient, and safe cars into the hands of people who don’t have them, freeing them from things like unreliable or nonexistent mass transit, broken down cars, predatory buy-here-pay-here salesmen, and their own two feet. Michelle quickly earned herself the nickname “The Car Lady,” which she couldn’t find more fitting. “I love cars,” she said, “and I love getting people on the road to a much better life. Cars change everything for people who don’t have them.”

Putting Character-Based Lending in the Fast Lane

Over the past 10 years, with Michelle behind the wheel, On the Road Lending has gone on to become an officially designated Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), thus cementing the organization’s mission to strengthen communities. Unsurprisingly, because On the Road Lending’s clients are transportation challenged, Michelle and her team do everything online, including reviewing and signing loan documents. To date, the organization has expanded its footprint to four states to include Texas, Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. While Michelle says that client acquisition is the hardest part of her business, she and her team are focused on forging more partnerships with trusted intermediaries like social service agencies, employers, and churches who can help assuage the fears of those who’ve previously fallen victim to predatory lenders and who’ve developed an understandable wariness toward anyone who says “we’ll cut your car payment in half.” 

Despite those hurdles, Michelle is confident that On the Road Lending is connecting with the right clients: more than 90% of On the Road Lending’s clients are people of color, and 65% of its clients are single Black mothers. On average, the CDFI’s clients have an average credit score of roughly 500, meaning that the interest rate for most of its clients for a car loan would typically be between 21% and 28% on a car loan. However, because On the Road Lending takes a holistic, character-based lending approach instead of relying on credit scores, it’s able to offer clients a flat interest rate of 9.75% for all of its loans, which cuts monthly payments from $700 to about $350. Compared to predatory lenders’ average default rate of roughly 30%, On the Road Lending’s default rate hovers around 3%. “With a client-equity-focused mindset, we start from an assumption that people are going to succeed instead of that they’re going to fail,” Michelle said. “Banks and traditional lenders don’t do that, but if they did, that would be a game changer for our economy.” 

Photo Credit: On The Road Lending

Besides reasonable loan terms, compassion, and flexibility, there’s another reason why Michelle refers to On The Road Lending as a “second-chance factory:” clients are paired with financial coaches who work with them on an ongoing basis. These remote, judgement-free consultations are complemented by online financial literacy classes that every client has to take. According to Michelle, the overall goal is to help clients distinguish between financial needs and wants and to be able to understand how to make important financial decisions in the future, whether that’s purchasing a home or going to college.

A Green Light to Grow

On the Road Lending has come a long way since making 16 loans in its first year; according to Michelle, the CDFI has been asked to expand into almost every state in the country, including localized requests from cities like New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco that have robust mass transit systems yet see the value that On the Road Lending could bring to their communities. Given the seemingly limitless potential, Michelle and her team are being very conscientious about their growth, with plans in place to be in 10 states by the end of this year.“We’re trying to think about markets that tend to be overlooked,” Michelle said, “and that tends to be driven by partners that want to bring us pretty heavily into a certain market.”

Photo Credit: On The Road Lending

Incredibly, On the Road Lending is just one of eight entities under Champion Impact Capital’s umbrella, meaning that the CDFI’s daily operations and scalability challenges represent only a fraction of Michelle’s day-to-day workload. Another entity under Michelle’s domain is On the Road Garage, a business that trains skilled technicians to do commercial collision repair for insurance companies. Currently, On the Road Garage has five registered apprenticeship programs with the Department of Labor; however, Michelle is confident that that number will grow in the coming months, fueled in part by partnerships with major corporations to work on their vans. “Without a four-year degree, these technicians can make $150,000 a year working on cars,” she said. “This is real life-changing money for people, and we’re teaching them the business so that they can go on once they’re done with us and have really great opportunities everywhere.”

Michelle is fortunate that within each of her business entities, she’s surrounded herself with incredible colleagues who match her passion, mile for mile. Although the individual business endeavors differ, they’re in many ways complementary to each other, as each focuses on a different aspect of the same overarching objective: to create a vertical integration strategy that brings down transportation costs across the value chain to make transportation more accessible and affordable for everyone. “We want to build prosperity and remove transportation barriers for people,” Michelle said. “We are busy, but we’re all very committed to the mission, and we love what we do. We’re very lucky for that.”

Photo Credit: On The Road Lending

Learn More

  • On the Road Lending formed in 2013 to help people find cars that worked for them and to teach them how to make good financial decisions. Through their loan funds, they make low-cost loans on reliable cars based on who people are—not their credit scores.
  • CNote is a women-led investment platform that empowers individuals and institutions to invest locally to further economic equality, racial justice, gender equity, and address climate change.
Love0
By Borrower Stories, Migration V2

Meet Mellaney Williams, The Big Dreamer Behind American Home and Commercial Services

Mellaney Williams

When Mellaney Williams and her husband graduated college and moved to South Carolina in 2001, Mellaney’s husband got himself involved in the irrigation installation trade. However, what started as a side hustle quickly turned into something much bigger, as demand for him and his services grew. Soon, American Home and Commercial Services LLC was doing much more than irrigation; it was doing landscape design and installations, lighting, hardscapes, water features, and even interior paint jobs and flooring projects. 

By 2010, Mellaney’s husband needed help with the business, so Mellaney quit her job and took over the financial side of the operation, as well as marketing, to take some of the administrative burden off of him. The arrangement quickly proved itself to be a win-win. “My husband is very gifted and he was doing fine, but the business had become overwhelming,” Mellaney said. “When I joined, I found my little groove to help it stay consistent. It’s been a miraculous ride.”

However, that “miraculous ride” was put in jeopardy in March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic immediately affected Mellaney’s business. Suddenly, there were fewer opportunities to land jobs, and it was difficult to retain workers. With more money going out than coming in, Mellaney had to cut back on things like advertising in order to keep the doors open. She even started going out on projects to help her husband in the field. That’s how she learned how to change sprinkler heads, install lighting systems, and construct ponds. Despite Mellaney and her husband cutting back and being resourceful to make ends meet, American Home and Commercial Services still needed help to ensure that the company could continue to pay its bills and cover its expenses.

Initially, Mellaney wanted more information about the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). She ventured online, but struck out because she couldn’t connect with a person to ask questions and get support. Instead, she ran into red tape and confusion. According to Mellaney, the experience left her feeling lonely. Those feelings were exacerbated when she turned to a credit union where she’d done business for more than 10 years and was told that her PPP loan application wasn’t formatted correctly. “Instead of elaborating and saying ‘if you do this, then we can approve it,’ they did nothing,” Mellaney said. “I felt abandoned. Out here in this pandemic as an African American woman business owner, and no one was there to help. It was very hard.”

Fortunately, someone in Mellaney’s network suggested that she reach out to Optus Bank. Optus Bank is a Columbia-based community bank with a mission-driven purpose. For the past 100 years, it’s been working to strengthen communities throughout South Carolina by closing the wealth gap created by systematic disparities in the financial industry. Optus Bank is a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), and its main goal is to ensure that wealth building is not just for the wealthy. CNote partners with CDFIs like Optus Bank across the country through its Impact Cash™ Solution, empowering woman small business owners like Mellaney.

According to Mellaney, her experience working with Optus Bank was “amazing,” “transparent,” and “a breath of fresh air.” She said that the application was straightforward, deadlines were clear, and her questions were answered — by real people. Within two weeks of contacting Optus in July 2020, Mellaney was notified that she was approved for her PPP loan. “I can’t put it into words,” she said. “I was so elated. They extended that hand to help me, and they gave a lifeline to my business. They made me a believer, and I can’t recommend them enough. Optus Bank will have my business for all of my future endeavors, because I have plans for big things.”

‘You Gotta Dream Big’

As Mellaney alluded to, she doesn’t intend to slow down anytime soon. Roughly seven years ago, American Home and Commercial Services had the opportunity to be a subcontractor for one of the largest landscape irrigation companies in the southeastern United States. The project was incredibly challenging, and it required an immense level of physical and mental fortitude to complete; however, Mellaney says that the project, including getting a glimpse into the operations of a much larger company, opened up her eyes to what was possible. “I knew that was a stepping stone to take us to another level,” she said. “If we could have the tenacity to complete that project, then we can do anything. That was the most challenging moment, but it was also the most rewarding experience, because we learned that there is no limit when you put your mind to whatever you want.”

What Mellaney wants for her business’ future is to expand into other cities, to grow its operations, and to bring as much of its supply chain as possible in house. Her ultimate goal, however, is to franchise American Home and Commercial Services and to one day go public. She’s a vocal promoter of Dun & Bradstreet, a global company that helps small businesses to connect with potential partners and investors. Mellaney discovered the company earlier this year, and she says having a D-U-N-S number has allowed her to both grow her business and talk confidently about her company’s future. “I love dreaming big,” she said. “If you don’t have a dream, then what’s the use — life is boring. You gotta dream big.”

Today, in the wake of losing her mother to COVID-19 in October, Mellaney has the joy of dreaming not only about her future, but the future of her infant daughter. According to Mellaney, while owning a successful business is fulfilling, it’s impossible to compare that to having a beautiful baby girl waiting for her at home. “Nothing else is more rewarding,” Mellaney said. “Now, I work even harder for her.”

Learn More

  • Optus Bank is a community bank, with a mission-driven purpose. They help strengthen their community by closing the wealth gap created by systemic disparities in the financial industry. By providing loans and banking services to local businesses and individuals they serve to turn deposits into direct support for the communities where their customers live and work.
  • CNote – Interested in helping create another story like Mellaney’s? CNote makes it easy to invest in great banks like Optus, helping you earn more while having a positive impact on businesses and communities across America.