Lendistry to Administer the $35 Million Dream Fund, Powering Entrepreneurship in California

California OSBA has selected Lendistry to administer the grant portion of its new technical assistance program aimed at supporting new small businesses

Lendistry announced today that it has been selected by the State of California to administer grants for the California Dream Fund, a $35 million program to support entrepreneurship and small business creation. With their improved technical skills and an infusion of capital, new small business owners will have a strong foundation on which to grow, innovate and serve their local communities. 

To qualify for a grant, applicants must have completed an in-depth training program with participating centers through the Technical Assistance Expansion Program (TAEP). When their training is complete, eligible participants will receive a Certificate of Completion and unique application code, which will be required to apply for a grant of up to $10,000 through Lendistry. Most of the eligible training programs in the TAEP network are currently full, and training is underway.

"Over the past two years, almost 10 million new businesses have been created in the U.S.," says Everett K. Sands, CEO of Lendistry. "We are excited to help California's new businesses receive this catalytic capital as they begin on their journeys."

"For the millions of Californians that have dreams of owning their own business, this grant coupled with one-on-one counseling and business expertise from hundreds of counselors at our eighty-seven Technical Assistance Centers, has the power to jumpstart their dreams," says Tara Lynn Gray, Director of the California Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA).

With record numbers of new small businesses entering the marketplace, many of which are owned by women and minorities, programs like California Dream Fund pave the way for a more robust and equitable economy as these new businesses make the leap from employing just their founders to employing their communities.

Since late 2020, Lendistry has powered record amounts of relief grants for California's established small businesses. The $4 billion California Small Business COVID-19 Relief Grant Program and the $150 million California Venues Program provided relief funds to small businesses and independent live event venues that lost significant revenue when they closed to the public. Lendistry's proprietary technology and network of community partners made it possible to deploy these grants to the state's most underserved small business owners, including women, minorities, veterans, and businesses in rural areas.

As the largest minority-led deployer of capital in the nation, and with its mission to provide access to capital in underserved communities, Lendistry is eager to provide this new class of small business owners with grants to fund their dreams. 

About Lendistry

B.S.D. Capital, Inc. dba Lendistry (lendistry.com) is a minority-led and technology-enabled small business and commercial real estate lender with Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and Community Development Entity (CDE) certification. Lendistry is a member of the Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco, headquartered in a Los Angeles Opportunity Zone. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lendistry provided Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans to small businesses in all 50 states, becoming the #8 PPP lender in the country in 2021. Lendistry was selected by the states of California, Pennsylvania, and New York to administer their small business relief programs, which distributed grants to businesses that lost significant revenues during the pandemic. As a previous SBA Community Advantage lender in California, Lendistry was historically one of the top-ranked lenders in that program in the nation, providing responsible financing to small business owners who needed responsible capital to grow. Lendistry and its nonprofit partner organization, The Center by Lendistry, are dedicated to providing economic opportunities and progressive growth for underserved urban and rural small business borrowers and their communities. In 2022, Lendistry SBLC, LLC, a subsidiary of B.S.D. Capital, Inc., became the nation's only African American-led SBA designated Small Business Lending Company. 

About CalOSBA

The Office of the Small Business Advocate (CalOSBA) helps support economic growth and innovation by working to ensure that California's small businesses and entrepreneurs have the information, tools, and resources they need to plan, launch, manage and grow their businesses successfully and be resilient. The CalOSBA serves to elevate their voices in state government and to advocate on their behalf to help ensure all aspiring and current small business owners and entrepreneurs are provided with the opportunity to access capital, access markets, and connect to the networks and resources they need to succeed. For more information visit the website.

Press contact: communications@lendistry.com

Source: Lendistry

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Categories: Entrepreneurship, Small Business

Tags: cadreamfund, california, lendistry, smallbiz


About Lendistry

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Lendistry (lendistry.com) is a minority-led fintech that provides innovative lending products and access to grant programs for small businesses nationwide.

Lendistry
767 S. Alameda Street Ste. 340
Los Angeles, CA 90021
United States