{"id":285952,"date":"2026-04-27T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/?p=285952"},"modified":"2026-04-20T11:22:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T15:22:49","slug":"loans-are-more-than-capital-how-private-leverage-is-advancing-economic-empowerment-for-historically-underserved-texans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/loans-are-more-than-capital-how-private-leverage-is-advancing-economic-empowerment-for-historically-underserved-texans\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Loans are more than capital\u2019: How Private Leverage is advancing economic empowerment for historically underserved Texans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Large banks, often shaped by profit-driven performance indicators, tend to prefer larger loan amounts ($1 million+), leaving small businesses in underserved communities to navigate funding challenges alone. The result is a financial landscape that can restrict economic mobility and long term wealth creation for historically underbanked communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Founded in 2017 by Malcolm Sykes, a former banker and the former Vice President of Business Development for Wells Fargo, NCRC member organization Private Leverage was created to close this gap by prioritizing clients that have historically been excluded from traditional capital markets.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Private Leverage\u2019s clients are neighbors, community members and known individuals rather than anonymous applicants. Since 2017, Private Leverage<\/a> has deployed well over <\/span>$25 million to Texas residents<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSince larger banks control the majority of capital, smaller loans don’t move the needle for them,\u201d said Sykes. \u201c<\/span>We can support smaller loans because of our size, which results in shorter processing times and lower administrative costs.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Any loan from a financial institution requires trust and involves risk, with relationship building being a key component of a successful lending partnership. Unlike traditional banks that focus heavily on credit metrics, Sykes says that Private Leverage is \u201cbuilding trust with clients through community relationships, long standing familiarity with borrowers and understanding the personal circumstances of the community it\u2019s lending to.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Private Leverage is also helping entrepreneurs and community members reduce their dependency on short-term rental agreements by prioritizing long-term property ownership. For so many small business owners, leasing commercial real estate leaves them vulnerable to elements out of their control like rent increases, inadequate property maintenance or even unexpected displacement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By reducing barriers, building direct relationships with borrowers and prioritizing communities often overlooked by traditional institutions, Private Leverage is reshaping what access to capital can look like at the local level.<\/span><\/p>\n

Through the organization\u2019s community-based lending model, ownership-focused financing and a capital pipeline that prepares businesses for long term stability, Private Leverage supports entrepreneurs in building assets and economic stability.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Through Private Leverage\u2019s partnership with NCRC, they are able to bring community needs directly to major financial institutions and influence how capital is deployed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNCRC is getting Private Leverage in the room with these larger banks and helping us to balance the scales,\u201d said Sykes.<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking ahead, the organization is positioning itself to deepen that impact. Through efforts like pursuing membership with the Federal Home Loan Bank of Dallas and also looking to partner with Equity Equivalent Investments (EQ2) to strengthen its capital base and expand its lending capacity.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These strategic steps will allow the organization to reach more entrepreneurs, support more families and continue building pathways to homeownership in communities where access has historically been limited. Each loan is more than capital – it is a step toward stability, ownership and long-term wealth creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

At its core, Private Leverage\u2019s work is both necessary and transformative, creating access, building trust and helping communities move from dependency to ownership one investment at a time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the systemic problem that we are solving,\u201d said Sykes. \u201cProviding this local underserved community capital and assistance that they do not have with these larger institutions increasing economic empowerment through ownership.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Britni Brown is a Contributing Writer.<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Private Leverage.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Large banks, often shaped by profit-driven performance indicators, tend to prefer larger loan amounts ($1 million+), leaving small businesses in underserved communities to navigate funding challenges alone. The result is a financial landscape that can restrict economic mobility and long term wealth creation for historically underbanked communities. Founded in 2017 by Malcolm Sykes, a former 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Brown","author_link":"http:\/\/clippings.me\/britnisharde"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Large banks, often shaped by profit-driven performance indicators, tend to prefer larger loan amounts ($1 million+), leaving small businesses in underserved communities to navigate funding challenges alone. The result is a financial landscape that can restrict economic mobility and long term wealth creation for historically underbanked communities. Founded in 2017 by Malcolm Sykes, a former…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=285952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}