Yelp Deposits $10 Million of Cash Reserves with Black-Owned Financial Institutions to Support Underserved Communities

Earlier this year, Yelp revealed it would provide more resources to help Black-owned businesses in response to conversations ignited by protests against racial injustice and police brutality. Now, the review app is taking things a step further by depositing $10 million from its cash reserves into minority-owned banking institutions that help serve Black and marginalized communities.

The company says the funds will be distributed to several different entities, including Broadway Federal Bank, Carver Federal Savings Bank and Citizens Savings Bank, as it recognizes the need to help these institutions succeed to support the local community.

“We recognize that the distribution of financial capital is not equitable in the United States, particularly in Black communities, and know we have a role to play to support a more equitable financial system,” said David Schwarzbach, chief financial officer at Yelp, said in a press statement. 

“We’re committed to making financial capital available to low- and moderate-income communities and to Black business owners who have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. This is why we’re depositing $10 million of Yelp’s cash reserves into these three Black-owned financial institutions to support homeownership and local businesses across the communities they serve.”

With more Black business owners coming out to share their difficulties obtaining the necessary resources and capital needed to succeed, banking institutions like Carver say acts like this can help them move forward in their mission to giving back to the community.

“As a certified minority depository institution, Carver maximizes our impact in the diverse communities we operate in by growing our deposit base. Today’s announcement by Yelp to establish a partnership with Carver by making a long-term deposit of $2.5 million will help us to accelerate our mission of serving low- to moderate-income communities,” said Jim Montes, president of Carver Community Development Corporation, in the statement.

“Here at Carver, we are extremely proud that approximately $0.80 of each deposited dollar we receive is reinvested back into the diverse communities we operate in through competitively priced loans. On behalf of Carver and other community banks across the country making a difference, we applaud Yelp for putting its banking dollars to work!”