Dear Small Business Policy Leader:

Jobs are on everyone’s minds these days. In the current economic climate, many successful businesses are experiencing stunted growth due to an inability to access capital for equipment purchase, real estate acquisition and operational expansion. The result has been devastating to workers, with stagnant job growth – and job loss – in some of the most needy communities nationwide.

As you may know, small businesses create up to 80 percent of all new jobs each year. We are writing to express our support for the important role community development entities – such as Community Reinvestment Fund, USA (CRF) and its lending partners – play in job growth and retention for local businesses.

For CRF, a national nonprofit organization that directs the capital resources of Wall Street to the homes and businesses of Main Street, the focus on jobs began more than 20 years ago. The mission was clear – to improve lives and strengthen communities by connecting entrepreneurs with capital. CRF provides its national network of local lenders, community banks and economic development agencies with capital resources to help small business owners expand their operations and hire new employees.

Now more than ever, small businesses and local banks need the financial resources of CRF to help protect jobs, the lifeblood of stronger neighborhoods and communities.

Banks alone have a limited ability to provide capital for all qualified businesses, many of which need more money than banks are willing to lend. National nonprofit groups like CRF are more nimble and socially oriented than banks. CRF and its lending partners understand the needs of neighborhood businesses, and are more responsive and better equipped than banks to meet a community’s unique financial needs.

Unfortunately, community development entities are falling victim to the same credit crunch afflicting banks, but aren’t benefiting from government stimulus dollars to the same extent as their for-profit partners. It is community-based businesses that will suffer the most from what amounts to bureaucratic oversight.

We cannot afford to let small businesses fail, as this would have a devastating impact not only on business owners and their employees, but also on communities as a whole. We urge you to visit www.crfusa.com or e-mail CRF president and CEO Frank Altman to learn more about community development work in your own states, cities and counties.

Let’s get to work on going to work – together, we can create jobs and change lives.

Respectfully yours,

The March for Jobs