Georgia Cities Foundation, Inc. distributes loans that make an impact in Georgia’s downtown areas; provides training and technicasl assistance; implements the Georgia Placemaking Collaborative

The overall goal of the ACT! is to increase the impact of our loan programs to assist our clients in building wealth and increasing business knowledge and skills. ACT! will meet the overall objective by increasing our Loan Volume by $5 Million over a 3-year period and by strengthening the organization by Raising $2 Million in New Debt Capital.

1)Create a uniform mortgage platform for the affiliate universe to originate conforming mortgages
2)Provide the affiliate universe with consistent access to capital and liquidity sources

ACE is the largest small business-focused community development financial institution (CDFI) in Georgia. In 2000, ACE started as a micro-lender with a pool of $50K, making small business loans to 4 counties in rural North Georgia. Nearly 19-years later, we’ve helped more than 950 businesses in 68 Georgia counties with $69M in fairly priced capital by giving people a chance when others wouldn’t.

In conjunction with our core mission, ACE’s vision is to decrease the racial wealth gap, particularly for African Americans and Latinx, through collaborative efforts. Today we are implementing year two of our 5-year strategic growth plan to double our social impact helping more nascent and existing business owners that need us most in rural and urban areas of Georgia. Organizationally, ACE’s strategic plan is designed to scale our self-sufficiency and core sustainability. The goal of this plan is scaling our lending program to $52M by 2022, which will effectively support almost 700 new clients and contribute to creating/retaining 10,000 jobs in the state of Georgia.