Urban Strategies, Inc. Receives $1.5 Million Truist Grant to Advance Community Wealth Building and Expand Capital for Emerging Businesses

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Oct. 6, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI) announced they received a $1.5 million grant from Truist Foundation. USI is a national institution advancing people-centered, place-based strategies that strengthen families, build community wealth, and transform neighborhoods nationwide.

The grant will support the expansion of the USI Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), creating stronger bridges to capital, business growth, and wealth creation for emerging entrepreneurs in Memphis, TN; Fort Worth, TX; Houston, TX; Jacksonville, FL; and Philadelphia, PA.

The new grant builds on a $1.5 million grant Truist Foundation awarded to USI in 2023 to advance similar work in Norfolk, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Fort Myers, FL.

Together, USI and Truist Foundation are working to change more than who has access to capital; they are helping change the systems that determine who have the opportunity to build, own, grow, and create wealth.

The grant funding will allow the USI CDFI to expand its loan fund, business support infrastructure, and application system to reach entrepreneurs who have faced barriers to traditional sources of capital. Business owners will have access not only to financing, but also to credit-building tools, technical assistance, knowledge, networks, and resources necessary to start, sustain, and grow thriving enterprises.

"Economic growth begins with opportunity. When entrepreneurs have access to the capital, support, and resources needed to bring their vision to life, the impact extends far beyond a single business," said Don Terrell, Truist market president. "Through this work, Truist Foundation is supporting the people and communities that drive local economies forward. We are honored to be a part of this initiative that expands opportunity, encourages business growth, and helps create lasting prosperity in Memphis and communities across the country."

Terrell joined USI Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Donovan Duncan to formally announce the grant during a community celebration and launch event at Epicenter in Memphis.

"We are deeply grateful to Truist Foundation for continuing this journey with us. This work is about more than access to capital; it is about ownership, economic power, and creating the conditions for people and communities to build wealth on their own terms," said Duncan. "Entrepreneurs are not simply beneficiaries of neighborhood revitalization; they are builders, employers, innovators, and essential drivers of it. This investment allows us to put capital and infrastructure behind their ideas and aspirations. What we are launching in Memphis and these additional communities is part of a much larger movement toward community ownership and shared prosperity. And we believe this is only the beginning."

For nearly five decades, USI has worked alongside families and communities to confront the systems and conditions that perpetuate poverty. Its work recognizes that neighborhood transformation cannot be measured solely by new buildings or physical investment. Lasting transformation requires families to be stable, residents to have economic power, entrepreneurs to have access to capital, and communities to participate in and benefit from the wealth being created around them.

Through this work, USI is investing in that broader vision: communities where residents are not displaced from opportunity but positioned to own, lead, build, and prosper.

USI CDFI

Since 2018, USI's CDFI has raised and deployed nearly $12 million in financing to support affordable housing development and economic growth. These investments have contributed to the creation of 3,820 jobs and the preservation of nearly 2,315 units of housing nationwide.

USI has also supported more than 250 entrepreneurs through technical assistance. 

The USI CDFI is an extension of the institution's broader commitment to economic mobility and community wealth building. By combining flexible capital, technical assistance, business infrastructure, and USI's deep presence in communities, the CDFI is helping build an ecosystem in which entrepreneurs can move from ideas to enterprises, enterprises to employers, and economic participation to ownership and wealth. Learn more at www.usi-cdfi.org.

Urban Strategies, Inc.

Urban Strategies, Inc. (USI) is a national nonprofit institution with nearly five decades of experience working alongside communities to build the conditions in which children, families, and neighborhoods can thrive.

Founded in 1978, USI has grown from a community-based organization into a national platform for people-centered, place-based transformation. Working at the intersection of housing, education, health, economic mobility, community leadership, and systems change, USI brings residents, public agencies, philanthropy, business, and community institutions together around a shared commitment to expanding opportunity and building stronger communities.

USI's work is grounded in a simple belief: people should not merely survive neighborhood change; they should have the power, resources, and opportunity to shape it and prosper.

Today, USI is active in 63 communities across 19 states and two territories, partnering with more than 100,000 individuals, 30,000 families, and a network of more than 1,000 organizations.

Across its work, USI is helping move communities from programs to systems change, from access to ownership, and from managing poverty to building pathways toward prosperity and generational wealth. Learn more at www.usi-inc.org.

Truist Foundation

Truist Foundation is committed to Truist Financial Corporation's (NYSE: TFC) purpose to inspire and build better lives and communities. The Foundation, an endowed private foundation established in 2020 whose operating budget is independent of Truist Financial Corporation, makes strategic investments in a wide variety of nonprofit organizations centered around two focus areas: building career pathways to economic mobility and strengthening small businesses to ensure all communities have an opportunity to thrive. Embodying these focus areas are the Foundation's leading initiatives – the Inspire Awards and Where It Starts. Learn more at www.TruistFoundation.org.