Seeking racial equity: Regions invests in minority communities through ¡HICA!, BuildUP
Social unrest and impassioned pleas for racial justice spread rapidly across the United States in the wake of the death of George Floyd — a Black man — in police custody in Minneapolis in May 2020.
In response to these protests, several large banks began committing large sums of money to address social and economic inequities in America.
U.S. Bank, which is based in Minneapolis, announced this past June that it had made a total investment of $208 million in Black-owned and -led businesses over the previous year.
According to a report at thegrio.com in May, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo were among the large banks investing in Black-owned or Black-led minority depository institutions.
There are only 20 Black-owned or Black-led MDIs in the nation, the website said.
Bank of America announced in 2021 that it had increased its target for equity investment in minority-focused funds from $200 million to $350 million.
In less than a year, the company said it had committed more than $250 million to 90 U.S. investment funds that provide capital to Black, Hispanic-Latino, Asian, Native American and other under-represented minority and women entrepreneurs.
Regions Bank, based in Birmingham, has not been left out of this effort..
In June 2020, Regions Bank and the Regions Foundation made a two-year, $12 million commitment to support initiatives that promote racial equity and economic empowerment for communities of color.
Regions Financial Corp. recently announced the bank and foundation had surpassed their commitment by investing $14.6 million through November 2021.
The original target date to fulfill the original $12 million commitment had been June 2022. However, the commitment was exceeded over six months thanks to the formation or expansion of strategic community partnerships, officials said.
Bank officials said the figure will continue to grow as additional investments are made.
“At Regions Bank and the Regions Foundation, it is our goal to continuously make impactful strides in advancing and accelerating progress toward greater racial equity and inclusion,” said John Turner, Regions Financial Corp. president and CEO. “These investments and community partnerships are designed to address a gap in access to growth capital, health care resources, housing, education and workforce development opportunities.”
The investments are a way to create “more equitable outcomes and building meaningful change in the communities we serve,” he said.
The nonprofit Regions Foundation is primarily funded by Regions Bank.
Its grants, equity investments and community partnerships benefit more than 270 organizations seeking to advance racial equity and economic empowerment in 13 states in the Southeast, Midwest and Texas.
Leroy Abrahams, president of Regions Foundation and head of Community Affairs for Regions Bank, said the organizations decided to “prioritize more inclusive prosperity” in 2018.
However, in 2020, the “world changed as never before with the impact of the pandemic as well as a series of racial injustices,” Abrahams said.
The bank and the foundation realized they could do more for minority communities, he said.
“And while the commitment made in 2020 has been surpassed, the work that’s underway will continue,” Abrahams said. “The bank and foundation are consistently developing impactful, innovative ways to level the playing field and support more opportunities for more people to succeed.”
The racial equity commitment announced in 2020 focuses on six areas that are designed to affect communities with targeted outcomes, enabling progress to be tracked and measured.
► Supporting MDIs and community development financial institutions (CDFIs), both of which provide additional access to essential financial products and services for customers in underserved communities. The Regions Community Development Corporation, a subsidiary of Regions Bank, has made several investments such investments, which are designed to help close the racial wealth gap through greater access to capital.
► Advancing minority business development, with one example being a microlending project supported by the Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama in Birmingham that supports Hispanic small-business owners.
► Promoting education and workforce success for people of color. One of the projects in Alabama receiving support is BuildUP, a workforce-focused nonprofit in Birmingham that educates students as it teaches them in-demand construction skills through hands-on apprenticeships and pays them for their work. BuildUP Students entering ninth grade enroll for six years of private school education and earn a high school diploma and a college associate degree, as reported by Bob Blalock at Alabama News Center. They also receive paid apprenticeships in the real estate and construction sectors to help them learn skilled trades as they refurbish houses that have been donated and moved into their community
► Promoting racial understanding. Regions Bank supports programs that foster understanding among cultures and celebrate the importance of racial diversity and inclusion as vital components of true racial equity.
The foundation’s last two areas of focus include increasing minority homeownership and reducing the digital divide.