ACT! Albany Community Together

Albany Community Together Inc is a CDFI loan program and provides business development services that are focused on African-American and low-income borrowers, which are usually minorities in our market. Over the past several years, ACT! has worked carefully and deliberately to fine tune the right model for an African American led CDFI in Georgia. The strategic framework is based on a number of opportunities for growth that translate into increased demand for capital, including:

Increasing visibility in the community as a result of expanded outreach activities
Increasing larger loans for established growth-oriented small businesses

Our business development services help African-American business owners navigate through the business economy to become sustainable and wealth-building entities. They recognize the need to become owners of commercial real estate and, when possible, to buy business equipment to strengthen the balance sheet and future growth for the business. ACT! offers two courses that are focused on teaching business savviness, "Understanding Your financials and what they say to lenders about your business", and "Getting to a yes, when the answer is clearly no." These workshops help the borrower understand what is on the personal credit report, and what a lender looks for in a "bankable" deal. Our strategy for our business owners is to build wealth and sustainable legacy businesses.

Loans:

Our small business loans are made to established businesses that are experiencing growth. The loans are for $50,000 to $150,000, and typically the loan involves a bank partnership. ACT! fills the gap for financing, taking second position on the loan. The Short-Term Working Capital Loan for up to $50,000 is used by businesses for short-term operational needs such as accounts payable, payroll, inventory, repairs or other immediate needs. This loan helps businesses with cash flow. This loan is particularly valuable to African-American businesses who need the cash flow to compete for government contracts and to scale their business operations. The STEP-Up Loan for up to $10,000. This is a specialized loan that was designed specifically to meet ACT!’s client needs for an introductory and graduated loan product. It is a micro loan and part of ACT!’s Micro Business Accelerated Loan Program. The purpose is to build credit, while providing development services for the expansion of existing small and micro businesses as well as to create new ones. This loan is specifically targeted towards low-income and African-American businesses needing to scale and grow their business enterprises.

Workshops:

To Your Credit: Helps individuals learn how to read and understand their credit report.

Understanding your Financials: This workshop provides an understanding of the three basic financial statements and teaches the business owner how to discuss with potential lenders and investors from the financial perspective.

Getting to a “Yes” when the Answer is clearly “No”: Explores the application process and what it means to have a loan underwritten.