By Kendra Bryant
AFRO Intern
Baltimore Community Lending (BCL) recently celebrated the opening of its new headquarters in downtown Baltimore with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Special guest speakers include BCL CEO Watchen Harris Bruce, former U.S. Sen. Benjamin Cardin, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a representative of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott and investors.
“Our journey is not just ours,” said Bruce. “We emphasize strategic partnerships–not just partnerships.”
BCL received over $7 million in investments from the Black Business Investment Fund (BBIF), Truist, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, M&T Bank, Fulton Bank, and others.
“At Truist, we believe our people and our communities should have the opportunity to thrive,” said Truist Regional Community Development Manager and Senior Vice President NaTasha Horton. “That’s why investing in community funding institutions like BCL is so important.”
As political administrations across the country work to remove DEI initiatives and funding for small businesses, BCL works to restore their needs.
“We can’t complete BCL’s mission if our nation is divided,” said Cardin.”We recognize that small businesses are innovators of our community, and BCL is a crucial part of bringing together our community.”
The headquarters will serve as a place of support for several Black small businesses, including their very own contractor, Lightning Electric.
“Baltimore Community Lending is not just saying it, they’re doing it,” said Lightning Electric CEO Sekwan Merritt. “I am a true story of BCL putting their money where their mouth is.”
Formerly incarcerated, Merritt has been in business with BCL since 2019. Many were not willing to take a chance on him.
“For years upon years, we’ve preached to this city, we preached to everybody that we were commercial electrical contractors,” said Merritt. “And we’ve been in business for seven years. BCL truly took a risk on us.”
The building was dedicated in memory of BCL’s former chief lending officer and co-founder of Morgan State University’s Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Frank Coakley.
Credit: (AFRO Photos/ Kendra Bryant)
“Frank was always known as the banker,” said fraternity brother and friend Daniel P. Henson III. “‘Til the moment he passed, Frank was in the hospital and was working. He had his iPad out and was on board meetings.”
BCL conferred an award on Coakley’s family for their many years of providing funding to underserved communities and uplifting small businesses.
“What Frank envisioned is happening with BCL,” said Merritt. “Let’s keep on continuing to do it.”
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