Inclusiv’s experience building trust in Puerto Rico, as well as its 50-year history working with Community Development Credit Unions (CDCUs) throughout the continental U.S., will likely serve as a critical backdrop as it moves forward with its recent $1.87 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Clean Communities Investment Accelerator grant.

There is an increasingly diverse range of technical assistance models, making it challenging to provide the right information to the right entrepreneur at the right time. This article highlights where leading technical assistance providers are focusing to help more entrepreneurs succeed.

Building trust with local communities is hard. The key to driving inclusive growth starts with recognizing and valuing the trust local organizations have established with communities, and then building on that foundation to help them succeed and grow. This was the cross-cutting theme of the second Strive USA Summit in Washington, DC.

This conversation between Kevin D. Kim, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, and Shamina Singh, Founder & President of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, took place at the Mastercard Strive USA Summit in New York.

Unprecedented federal funding is flowing into the small business sector. By complementing these investments with the right technology and infrastructure, there is a historic opportunity to greatly improve and secure the success of more small businesses, a key cornerstone of the U.S. economy.

Participants at the first Mastercard Strive USA Summit spoke about how to access and leverage the once-in-a-generation investments being made by the federal government — from building new infrastructure, to accelerating the clean energy transition, to investing directly in small businesses.

Strive USA has launched a new event series geared towards creating more profound local impact in states and cities across the country. These convenings will complement and strengthen our work nationally by cultivating collaboration among local and national providers of capital, know-how, and digital tools. 

New technologies, a surge in federal funding, and strategic partnerships are driving rapid growth of the community development finance sector and bolstering resilience at a time of record small business creation — but there’s still a pressing need for further action to fully realize this critical moment.

Meet the 2023 Mastercard Strive USA Innovation Fund Winners. These four organizations were selected because their impact-focused solutions were uniquely primed for long-term, sustainable impact in the U.S.

One year after the launch of Strive USA, Mastercard’s U.S. small business initiative is now supporting small businesses in 43 states and working closely with 16 prominent organizations. Here we provide an update on our work and progress — and where we go next.