Blend launches financial equality program

Blend Labs will join the growing number of companies launching plans that aim to improve racial equity in personal finances and homeownership.

The technology provider, which has long touted its aims to make financial service experiences as efficient as ordering on Amazon, launched Blend Impact, a three-pronged program aimed at giving historically underserved communities better opportunities to build wealth through banking and home buying.

"Blend's mission is to expand access to the world's financial resources, and we are committed to creating a more inclusive financial services ecosystem for everyone," Nima Ghamsari, co-founder and head of Blend, said in a press release.

The program’s first leg — the Equitable Ecosystem Initiative — was soft-launched last year and gave free access of its platform in multiple languages to Minority Depository Institutions and Community Development Financial Institutions. The initiative will also invest all interest from a $5 million MDI deposit for economic equality.

“When we don't provide these populations with access to banking experiences, either digital or brick and mortar, they access payday or other predatory lending practices,” Ulysses Smith, Blend’s head of diversity, inclusion and belonging said in an interview. “That leads to a lot of distrust of financial institutions, particularly among communities of color, which is why we start our program with community partnerships. It's not in our best interest or anybody's best interest to tell communities what's best for them without ever asking.”

Blend’s will be giving its employees 24 hours of paid time off to volunteer, with a 2021 focus on homelessness. It’s also joining 1,500 other companies in pledging at least 1% of product development and time to supporting the overall cause.

Blend wouldn’t disclose the measurable benchmarks of success it has set with its initiative partners, but it will try to increase homeownership and housing opportunities for the Black and LGBTQ+ communities in the next five years.

“These are not acts of charity for Black and Brown communities,” Smith said. “This is about making some key investments in places that have not had them and creating an ecosystem that's going to work for everybody.”

This launch closely follows Blend’s initial public offering, which went live on July 16 and closed its first day of trading at $20.90 per share. The stock price hit a closing low of $17.26 on July 22 and opened trading at $17.92 on July 27.