"Over the past five years, Carver Federal Savings Bank — the largest publicly-traded, Black-owned bank in the country — has provided $225 million in loans to disadvantaged communities, representing 183 companies.

The bank has created a growing network of businesses and provided a solid stream of institutional and retail deposits. Now, as it heads into its 77th year, Carver is betting a new two-year microloan program will help the iconic Black-owned bank draw more deposits and grants to invest in New York's African American and Caribbean entrepreneurs.

'When we launched it, it was so popular that it almost broke the Internet, because we had so many businesses applying,' jokes 47-year-old Lloyd Doaman, executive director of Carver Community Development Corp, a subsidiary of the bank."