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Supporting small businesses nationwide

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Learn More About Our Focus Areas

Making an impact through commercial loan opportunities

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Get to Know Self-Help

Explore why we do what we do

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Read Our Annual Report

See the numbers of how we supported our communities

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Connect with Our Team

Invest in the Self-Help mission and support local communities

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Check Out Our Member Stories

Supporting small businesses nationwide

Read More
Read Our Annual Report

See the numbers of how we supported our communities

Learn More
Invest in What We Do

Connect with our team to see how you can be a part of the mission

Reach Out

Explore All Focus Areas & Programs

Students at A Safe Place Child Enrichment Centers learn how to grow and care for plants.

Our impact focus areas

Inclusive Financial Services

We're support our communities with inclusive financial services like:

  • Responsible, affordable loans
  • Transparent financial services
  • Financial education

Expanding Homeownership

We believe in ownership for all, which is why we're finding ways to make homeownership more affordable, responsible, and accessible to communities that have historically been prevented from obtaining fair mortgages.

Community Development Lending

Through our nonprofit loan fund, Self-Help Ventures Fund, we provide capital for high-impact projects that help communities thrive.

  • Commercial lending for communities
  • Secondary market
  • New Market Tax Credits (NMTC)

Real Estate Development

We are investing back into our communities through equitable and inclusive real estate development. We focus on:

  • Affordable housing
  • Community facilities and historic revitalization

Clean Energy & Climate Initiatives

Clean energy and energy affordability are deeply connected to economic opportunity. For over 25 years, Self-Help has financed more than $500 million to support green projects that generate cost savings as well as a cleaner environment.

Research & Advocacy (CRL)

The Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) is a Self-Help affiliate that acts as a national nonprofit, nonpartisan research and policy organization dedicated to protecting homeownership and family wealth by working to eliminate abusive financial practices.

Additional programs

Community
Avila Center for Community Leadership

Along with partners, Self-Help operates Avila as a retreat and convening center for organizers and leaders working toward systemic change in the South and beyond.

Education
Investing in Education

Self-Help has been financing quality public charter schools and child care centers since the mid-1990s, because we believe that investing early in a child's life creates long-term value for communities.

Community
HBCU Promise+

Our comprehensive six-dimensional approach to supporting HBCU communities launched in 2022. Through it, we provide HBCUs and their communities with products, services, career opportunities, and financial education to reduce debt and increase mobility.

Homeownership
Inspire 100 Secondary Market

In 2024, Self-Help came together with a coalition of fellow CDFIs to create the Inspire 100 program. Through the secondary market, Inspire 100 brings Self-Help's 100% LTV mortgage product to homebuyers across the country. The product features no PMI and a required borrower contribution of only $1,000. 

Lending
Julian Bond Institute (JBI)

JBI is an initiative of the Center for Responsible Lending. Their mission is to conduct research that elevates the financial needs, challenges, and opportunities presented by our increasingly diverse nation to effectively design a financial market for the future.

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