Pacific Community Ventures has issued $112,500 in “Good Jobs Grants” to 37 California small businesses who caused the business to retain their employees and improve job quality even during the last two difficult years. PCV doubled how big their good jobs rebates this year in order to acknowledge the progress their borrowers make in improving – and looking after – dignified good jobs with the pandemic. The grants were created to small businesses who kept their workers employed and made their jobs better and stronger – actually making gains in areas like offering a full time income wage, health, retirement, and paid leave benefits, and ensuring a proper workplace with stable schedules.
As a residential area lender, PCV offers grants by means of loan rebates – up to $1500 for every component of a great job a small business owner added for their workers. These are entrepreneurs like Fernando Diaz, who owns farm-to-cup coffee company Proyecto Diaz Coffee. Roasting their own espresso beans on a shared roaster, Fernando found PCV in 2022 in need of their own space and equipment to develop the company and fulfill larger orders. PCV provided Proyecto Diaz with capital using their loan fund and paired Fernando having a free business advisor who helped him secure his current location in San Leandro. In the past six years, Proyecto Diaz is continuing to grow from a one-person show (where Fernando wasn't even paying himself a salary) for an enterprise employing several team members, with retirement benefits and other perks. Fernando's vision would be to bring the Latinx community into every aspect from the coffee roasting sector, from roasting to marketing to management. “There are people in the community thinking about developing skills,” he says. “They can function here, make a career here, but when they want to leave here, I would like them to leave having a base of hard skills and soft skills.”
Creating Good Jobs In the middle of The Pandemic
When COVID-19 hit in 2022, demand for PCV's advising and capital grew almost 10,000%, with loan inquiries totaling $172 million. Even though many banks and CDFIs stopped lending, and while many BIPOC business owners were excluded from Federal recovery programs, PCV kept lending open without interruption, and rapidly responded to their customers by refinancing loans, providing payment deferments and interest-only payment periods. PCV also increased flexibility in their lending criteria for example accepting businesses with simply partial revenues and doing away with minimum credit scores to qualify.
“On a small scale, PCV might help small businesses find excellent, dedicated workers by ensuring they're paying fair wages in a way that's friendly for their main point here and makes it easier to employ and retain people,” says Bulbul Gupta, President & CEO of PCV. “Over the last two years we have seen and proven that workers are looking for jobs that pay a full time income wage, offer some fundamental benefits, provide paid time off work, and are safe over these uncertain times, which employers who provide these things retain employees at higher rates while as being a more profitable business long-term. Also, our team can help you know very well what workers worry about, how to provide workers with the benefits they care about, and obtain you additional resources to create jobs which will grow your business profits.”
The Secret Sauce: Restorative Capital + Free Business Advice
Affordable, flexible financing gives small businesses the means to plan ahead and invest in the development of their business – including within their employees. As PCV small business client Shani Jones said, “We believe in our employees and training them thoroughly about the catering industry and Jamaican food.” Peaches Patties, Shani's Jamaican catering service located in San Francisco, originally operated out of Shani's mom's kitchen. A $100,000 loan from PCV allowed her to move from the commercial kitchen space right into a new production facility and hire new workers.
Beyond simply focusing on creating the most number of jobs, PCV focuses on promoting good jobs that grow and sustain wealth in economically-distressed communities. Their loan agreements include financial incentives for borrowers to implement “good jobs” attributes — the first incentive of this kind in the CDFI industry — while Good Jobs mentors can be found through their national BusinessAdvising.org platform to help entrepreneurs advance worker health alongside business health. PCV also hosts an open-access Good Jobs, Good Business toolkit: a resource explaining how good jobs boost revenues in the long-term that includes step-by-step guidance to apply aspects of a great project for workers.
Another PCV client, Wanda Rogers of Construction Service Workers, is continuing to grow from 2 to 13 employees dealing with PCV.Doing so earned the business $3,000 in good jobs rebates. “Why exist so many restrictions on credit?,” Wanda asked. “If PCV worked with me, why wouldn't others? I've got a very low-interest SBA loan now because PCV afforded me an opportunity to put pieces in place and hire people, which allowed me to actually ensure I had been established to grow and make the most of contracts because they come up. It made a total difference. I expanded work through my PCV loan and now we've outgrown it.”
Small business people based in California who need a loan up to $250,000, reely suggestions about hiring and retaining workers, can find out more here:
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