Thread Capital Receives Business Sustainability Award from
North Carolina Business Council for its Efforts During Pandemic
Thread Capital was among five honorees awarded at The North Carolina Business Council’s (NCBC) fifth annual Business Sustainability Awards Luncheon today, honoring Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) who have demonstrated excellence implementing sustainable business practices by helping small businesses across North Carolina.
Thread Capital was commended specifically for stepping in to fill the financial gap for thousands of North Carolina businesses, helping them remain sustainable during uncertain times over the last year.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy,” said Thread Capital Executive Director Jonathan Brereton when accepting the award. “The pandemic has brought forward challenges for many of them. Thread Capital was able to step up to ensure businesses that are often overlooked had the support they needed, providing capital and other resources to ensure they remained sustainable.”
“NCBC is pleased to present awards to Thread Capital and the other CDFIs because they play a critical role in the sustainability of small businesses across North Carolina,” said Vicki Lee Parker-High, Executive Director, North Carolina Business Council. “In many cases, the financial services provided by CDFIs are the only thing that stands between a business going forward or closing their doors. During the COVID economic crisis, the grants and loans offered by CDFIs served as the single lifeline for businesses that did not have established relationships with banks and were unable to access PPP loans. We hope this recognition will make more people aware of how important CDFIs are to our economy and lead state officials to be more supportive of these institutions going forward.”
In March of 2020, Thread Capital, the NC Rural Center (Thread Capital is a subsidiary of the Center) and the Golden LEAF Foundation designed and executed the NC COVID-19 Rapid Recovery Loan Program. Made up of a collaboration of eight CDFI lenders, with the support from a variety of other partners, the program was designed to assist small businesses and family farms affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Thread Capital led the consortium of eight CDFIs with a disbursement of over 56 million dollars.
“We are very grateful for this award,” Brereton said. “We also recognize that we were one piece of a larger puzzle. Spearheaded by the NC Rural Center and with the support of the Golden LEAF Foundation and several other funders, Thread Capital led a group of lenders who provided more than 2,200 Rapid Recovery loans to small businesses in need during the pandemic.”