Welcome to the website for the Alliance for Community Development (ACD). The organization is a nonprofit 501(c) (3) organization with the mission to increase access to capital for growth companies with diverse management. We focus on outreach to companies with minority, women and disabled represented on the executive leadership team. Our programs are always open to the public and we welcome all entrepreneurs and business owners motivated to grow their business and create a vibrant economy in the Bay Area. ACD tailors our programs by company size and growth goals of the entrepreneurs to better support our clients.
ACD Programs:
Bay Area Capital Connections Program (BACC)
Audience: Rapid growth entrepreneurs typically with technology, IT, social media, scientific companies seeking equity capital to scale
Diverse Supplier Capacity Building Program
Audience: Suppliers seeking contract financing, bank loans or private equity
Created in Oakland Four:
Audience: Micro businesses in the East Bay counties that want to grow over $1 million and may be financing from friends and family, bank loans, contract financing or private equity
Accomplishments of the Alliance:
The Alliance established the Bay Area Equity Fund: A Double Bottom Line Fund. The fund was launched with the Bay Area Council as a co-sponsor in 2003. Currently the fund is capitalized at $75 million. The Fund invests in businesses located in or near neighborhoods in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area (the 9-county Bay Area plus Santa Cruz County) whose median household incomes are 80% or less than their county’s median household income. The projected return on the fund is positive.
Bay Area Capital Connections Conferences (BACC V) is scheduled for May 10, 2012 at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. BACC IV was held in Oakland for the first time on June 23, 2011 at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center. One hundred and forty people attended the conference. The event received high satisfaction ratings and was described as welcoming and informative for all.
Bay Area Capital Connections Conferences I, II, and III were successfully completed in 2006, 07 and 08. The conference focused on attracting a different minority business community each year and showcased entrepreneurs in the African American, Hispanic and Asian business communities. The The conferences included:
- Seminars and panels
- Entrepreneur pitch presentations
- Networking among entrepreneurs, business students, senior executives, investors, professionals
In 2010, the Alliance assumed sponsorship of the Created in Oakland program, a program to accelerate the growth of businesses in full time operations 2 – 20 years plus. The program completed three cohort groups between 20008 – 2011. Thirty-four companies have graduated. Economic contributions of the graduating businesses include:
- Retaining thirty-four businesses through the recession
- Adding $500,000 – $1,000,000 in incremental cash flow for each cohort, each year
- Generating new products and patents
- Generating thirty plus contracts and jobs
- Successfully completing two retail site expansions
- Completed one transfer of ownership to retain a business for over twenty years in Oakland
In 2011 and 12, he Alliance launched programs for corporate suppliers to increase capacity to contract and to increase knowledge of the debt acquisition process.
