Jessica Pedersen's Contact Details

Jessica Pedersen's Company Details

Pacific Community Ventures

Oakland, CA, US • 50 - 99 Employees
City Government/Municipal Government

Pacific Community Ventures believes that by investing in small businesses and making markets work for social good we can create thriving communities where everyone has a fair shake. Our mission is to strengthen small businesses, strengthen communities, and create good jobs and better livelihoods for working people. We achieve our mission through a "Good Jobs, Good Business" model that combines affordable loans with pro-bono mentoring, tools and incentives to create quality jobs, social impact evaluation and field building research.Our "Loans + Advice" fund provides affordable small business loans to bridge the "missing middle" between startup capital and financing from banks: $10,000–$250,000. We don't require a minimum credit score, and specialize in working with small business owners who've had a hard time accessing capital, like female entrepreneurs, immigrant entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of color, and borrowers that may have been turned down for SBA or traditional bank loans.Our Business Advising program connects small business owners with expert advisors who help them meet their challenge and seize new opportunities. We put volunteerism to work for local communities by managing a national network of seasoned entrepreneurs and skilled professionals who want to use their hard-earned business knowhow to create more opportunity in our communities. Pacific Community Ventures leverages technology to provide small business owners with high-quality mentoring, at no cost. All advice is completely free and completely confidential. Both programs are supported and enhanced by our impact investing research and consulting practice, which provides strategy consulting, impact measurement, management and evaluation, conducts field-building research, and develops tools to help business owners create higher-quality jobs.