Urban Partnership Bank officials have announced that the bank has passed a lending milestone, exceeding $200 million in total loans since the bank began lending in 2012. Overall, UPB has made 243 new loans in less than three years, creating or retaining approximately 2,400 new jobs in urban communities. Over 50 percent of the loans support small businesses, nonprofits and affordable housing opportunities in Chicago’s South Side. "These milestones underscore the continuing growth of the bank’s small business and commercial real estate lending and our ongoing commitment to create economic development opportunities that build vibrant urban communities and reinvigorate peoples’ lives,” said William Farrow, president and CEO of UPB.