![San Diego County expands small business loan program to include businesses in cities [The San Diego Union-Tribune]](https://www.missiondrivenfinance.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/SD-County-admin-building-1080x675.jpg)
by Wilda Wong | Sep 29, 2020 | News
The San Diego County COVID-19 Small Business & Nonprofit Loan Program (SBNLP) is a collaborative initiative designed to provide low-to-no-interest loans to small businesses and nonprofit organizations and aid in the region’s economic recovery from the coronavirus. This loan program was launched by County of San Diego Supervisor Nathan Fletcher in collaboration with The San Diego Foundation, Mission Driven Finance, Accion Serving Southern California (now Accessity), the San Diego & Imperial Small Business Development Center Network, and the California Southern Small Business Development Corporation.
“San Diego County supervisors unanimously agreed Tuesday to expand the county’s $5 million small business loan COVID relief program regionwide to small businesses operating in cities,” The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.
by Wilda Wong | Sep 29, 2020 | News
Laura Kohn, our good friend and community expert in early care and education, has a personal motto: Do it for the kids.
Who doesn’t want to support babies and children in achieving their fullest potential? Hint: no one.
Yet, quality early child care remains inequitable, undersupplied, and underfunded. That’s been driving us nuts for years. After all, quality early child care doesn’t just close achievement gaps for kids. It’s also critical for building thriving communities and the economic advancement of families.
Last year, our CEO David and COO Shreya dug into innovative finance structures for early care and education. They developed a theory. Financing real estate for early care providers can reduce one of the primary pain points in the industry. The ensuing stability and cost savings can help more kids get quality care.
We’re honored to share that David—along with Laura and community finance fellow Essence Rodriguez—will get to refine this theory as part of the 2020 cohort of the Promising Ventures Fellowship.
The fellowship program is produced by Promise Venture Studios in partnership with Sesame Workshop and The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University. The program is designed to accelerate growth for social enterprises with the potential to scale impact for children and families facing the greatest adversity.
With Sesame Workshop as a presenting partner, David, Essence, and Laura had quite a unique welcome to the fellowship from Grover!
by Editorial Team | Sep 2, 2020 | Insights & Resources
We chatted (virtually) with the newest member of the Mission Driven Finance team to find out—what drives her to invest in her community?
When did you first come to San Diego? What keeps you here?
My family first moved from Minneapolis to La Jolla in the 1970s when I was six years old. At that time, we had trouble finding a home due to discriminatory housing practices. There were actually real estate covenants barring Jews and people of color from buying and renting homes in La Jolla! Fast forward 50 years and La Jolla has a large, thriving Jewish population and four synagogues. My faith is very important to me so I am incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made.
I choose to stay in San Diego because this is my home. My roots are here, my friends and family are here, and I love everything about this city. I could never give up the love and hope that I feel living here in San Diego.
One of our favorite quotes about impact investing is from a fellow impact investor, Ted Levinson: “Mainstream investing is moving money based on the future you predict. Impact investing is moving money based on the future you want.” What’s the future you want to create?
Right now we’re going through this unprecedented reset, and I think impact investing will be a catalyst for rebuilding a kinder, more equitable world. One impact investment tool that will help us create that future are donor-advised funds (DAFs). DAFs have the potential to bridge the gap between philanthropists and impact investors and make impact investing accessible and easier for more people. I don’t know how David figured it out but it’s a game changer!
Impact investing is the next big thing in philanthropy. It’s a social justice movement—an activist movement.
If you could create your own impact investing fund, what would it look like?
I would create a fund dedicated to promoting mental wellness, particularly for young people. Mental wellness is vitally important. I’d like to make it easier to test for things such as bipolar early to give children the best opportunity to lead a full life and prevent suffering. To me, there is hope in mental wellness because everyone is ultimately seeking to become mentally well. It’s something everyone can get behind.
One way I’m working to support mental wellness right now is my involvement with The Comfort Cub. It’s a nonprofit launched by one of my friends from elementary school, Marcella Johnson. She created comfort cubs, which are specially weighted teddy bears, to cope after the loss of her child. They are a tremendous tool to help people cope with trauma, so I recently donated comfort cubs to retirement homes and Holocaust survivors.
Finally, why did you decide to work at Mission Driven Finance?
I’ve been friends with David for a long time, and when I saw the creative ways that Mission Driven Finance was using finance to create social change, I knew I had to get involved. It’s exciting because you all are really pioneers in this space. I’ve lived my whole life striving to be in service of others. Impact investing felt like a natural progression in my career—the decision was very intuitive. It’s also in line with my faith. The Advance strategy is Tzedakah, the eight levels of charitable giving, because it helps people establish themselves in business and makes them self sufficient.
My late father, Murray Galinson, was an amazing connector of people and I have very much followed in his footsteps. The theme of connecting has been constant throughout my professional and personal life. I’m eager to continue that in my new role as the director of community relations. The Mission Driven Finance team pulses with a real excitement and energy and I’m proud to be a part of it.
