Apple Partners With CNote to Invest $25M in Underserved Communities of Color

Apple has partnered with Oakland-based fintech company CNote to invest $25 million into underserved communities of color.

On Thursday, Apple and CNote announced their commitment as part of Apple’s Racial Equity and Justice Initiative which aims to expand opportunities for communities and color in efforts to combat systemic racism, Apple Insider reports.

“We’re committed to helping ensure that everyone has access to the opportunity to pursue their dreams and create our shared future,” Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives said.

“By working with CNote to get funds directly to historically under-resourced communities through their local financial institutions, we can support equity, entrepreneurship and access.”

CNote addresses the growing racial wealth gap by supporting corporate and other institutional investors that provide service to underserved communities across the country and generate returns on cash allocations.

“Corporations have an enormous opportunity to help communities across the U.S. thrive by changing the way they manage their cash reserves, and we’re excited to see Apple at the forefront of this emerging trend,” said Catherine Berman, CEO of CNote.

“Through our platform, we have already started moving Apple deposits into low-income communities and communities of color.”

CNote has already started to allocate funds from Apple’s investment to mission-driven financial institutions, including ANECA Federal Credit Union in Louisiana; Bank of Cherokee County in Oklahoma; Carver State Bank in Georgia; Education Credit Union in Texas; First Southwest Bank in Colorado; and Hope Credit Union, which serves Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee, as noted by Globe Newswire.

Other banks that received funds include Kaua’i Federal Credit Union in Hawai’i; Latino Community Credit Union in North Carolina; Legacy Bank in Missouri; Optus Bank in South Carolina; Self-Help Federal Credit Union, with locations in California, Illinois, Washington and Wisconsin; and VCC Bank in Virginia.

“Partnerships like the one we have with CNote and Apple are essential to our efforts to expand access to capital, as well as to financial products and services, in a historically underserved market,” Susannah Plumb Scott, executive vice president at Bank of Cherokee County said.