Priorities
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Affordable Housing
Financing the future of affordable housing—locally, sustainably, and equitably.
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Clean Energy
A cleaner future for the East Bay means funding innovation and community-based solutions.
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Small Business
Small businesses are vital to the local economy, building community resilience and wealth.
Affordable Housing
In the East Bay, we believe housing is a human right and a path to racial and economic justice. We envision a future where our money works for us, building homes.
Satellite Affordable Housing Associates breaks ground on a 33-unit affordable housing initiative for veterans in Pinole. A project like those PBEB hopes to support.
PBEB will help to fund projects like Crescent Grove in unincorporated Alameda County.
A Solution
PBEB is being designed to fill gaps left by big banks. By offering flexible, affordable financing, PBEB can support housing initiatives our communities need most.
Funding early-stage development
Through partnerships with local financial institutions, PBEB can offer low-interest loans for land acquisition, permitting, and planning. This means developers can act before sites are lost to speculation or funding delays.
Supporting community-based projects
CLTs and cooperative housing
Small multi-unit buildings and fourplexes
Tiny homes and ADUs
Keeping public dollars circulating locally
With PBEB, public dollars stay public, financing homes and other community-wide needs for our neighbors and future generations.
The Problem
Affordable housing is one of the East Bay’s most urgent needs. Nonprofit developers struggle to access capital for early-stage work like land acquisition and planning.
Big banks often refuse to fund affordable, small, or community-centered housing projects like 4-unit buildings, Community Land Trusts (CLTs), and ADUs. They are labeled too risky or unprofitable.
Even well-capitalized CDFIs are underfunded and can’t meet the scale of need. In addition, nearly half of infrastructure project costs go to bank interest, draining public resources.
Snapshot: Alameda County’s Housing Crisis
73% drop in state and federal housing funds.
58,900 low-income renter households lack access to affordable homes.
76% of extremely low-income renters spend more than half their income on rent.
22% increase in homelessness from 2017 to 2022; a state of emergency was declared in 2023 by Alameda County.
43% of unhoused people in Alameda County are Black, though they make up only 10% of the population.
$49.66/hour in wages is needed to afford the average rent, 3x Oakland’s minimum wage.
* Data from Alameda County Affordable Housing Needs Report 2024, Home Together Plan, and Alameda County Homeless Count and Survey Report 2022.
Clean Energy
We can help fund a clean energy future rooted in climate justice and community ownership.
People Power Solar Collaborative team members installing solar panels on a home in Oakland. PBEB can help fund more projects like this.
The Problem
Clean energy is essential to fighting the climate crisis but access to financing remains a major barrier.
Cities have bold climate goals and ideas to electrify homes, decarbonize transit, and build local energy resilience. Yet many projects fall outside the traditional risk and return profile that big banks are willing to fund.
Community solar is often seen as too small or unproven.
Older buildings lack affordable capital for energy retrofits.
EV charging skips low-income areas, widening the equity gap.
Green infrastructure (trees, permeable pavement, stormwater systems) offers major public benefit but doesn’t generate “sufficient” private profit.
Meeting national clean energy targets will require over $1 trillion in financing (Wood Mackenzie). California alone needs $70 billion by 2030. The East Bay’s share is $3–7 billion, far more than current programs can cover.
The need is outpacing the existing systems.
A Solution
Working with public, private, and nonprofit partners, PBEB can deliver mission-driven capital to fill critical financing gaps.
Finance Upfront Costs
Help residents and landlords install heat pumps, solar, and insulation without prohibitive upfront expenses.
Support Green Infrastructure
Finance projects like tree planting, bioswales, and stormwater management that improve resilience and public health.
Leverage Tax Credits and Public Funds
Multiply impact by unlocking state and federal incentives like IRA clean energy credits.
Fund Community Solar, Microgrids, and Battery Storage
Fund rooftop solar for affordable housing, schools, and community centers. Finance backup energy systems to keep power on during outages and emergencies.
Expand EV Charging in Equity Zones
Invest in EV infrastructure for renters and underserved neighborhoods.
Invest in Small Business Energy Upgrades
Offer flexible capital for clean manufacturing and energy-efficient equipment.
Back Innovation
Support emerging technologies like community battery storage, peer-to-peer energy networks, and co-op-led solutions.
Small Business
We will help bridge critical financing gaps for neighborhood businesses.
Mandela Grocery nourishes their West Oakland neighborhood with healthy food, wellness resources, and collective ownership. We can help fund more businesses like them.
A Solution
We will partner with local financial institutions to advance:
Community‑Oriented Lending Criteria
Prioritize reputation and prospects over strict credit scoring to support low-income and BIPOC entrepreneurs. The bank will prioritize supporting businesses that provide vital community benefits like child care, senior care, fresh food, health services, gathering spaces, and pop-up markets, the lifeblood of healthy communities.
Flexible Capital Access
Create term loans, lines of credit, and specialty financing for energy upgrades, equipment modernization, storefront ownership, and worker-owned businesses. This includes working with lenders to offer loans under $50,000 and loans up to $1,000,000 for mission-aligned small businesses.
Commercial Corridor Revitalization and Community Development
Support big-picture ideas and coordinated community-wide planning, such as businesses focused on shared-use infrastructure (EV charging stations, solar canopies and more), preservation of legacy businesses, cultural and arts venues, and other projects that make our neighborhoods thrive.
Anchor Institutional Collaboration
Help ensure that small businesses have the financial ability to compete for and fulfill procurement commitments from large local employers (hospitals, schools, and municipalities). This permits smaller entrepreneurs to find their feet, especially in the food and construction industries.
The Problem
Big banks prioritize low-risk, high-return portfolios. They often sideline small loans that are deemed unprofitable or “risky” in favor of larger borrowers and national chains.
Due to systemic bias and legacy redlining, Black and Latino small business owners are less than half as likely to receive full financing for their business needs (Federal Reserve Small Business Credit Survey, 2021).
Big banks and most lenders assess risk and return on a parcel-by-parcel or project-by-project basis, without regard for how a healthy community adds value to all of its businesses.
Revitalizing commercial corridors often requires long timelines, infrastructure upgrades, and complex coordination, all of which banks believe carry uncertain returns.
Improvements without neighborhood assessments can actually accelerate displacement unless paired with community governance and anti-speculation tools.
The Opportunity
Small businesses are vital to the local economy, fuel innovation, positive employment trends, resilience, and community wealth (FDIC, Center for Financial Research, 2022).
Spending $1 at a local small business generates 3x more local economic benefits than spending that same dollar at a national chain (Civic Economics and the Institute for Local Self‑Reliance).
Public banks can unlock financing for small business transitions (like employee ownership) and drive climate-aligned investments that mainstream banks ignore (Jain Family Institute and Berggruen Institute, May 2023).
Local small businesses are more likely than national chains to source goods/services from other local businesses, shortening supply chains, lowering emissions, and increasing local money flow.
Small businesses are more likely than national chains to support local nonprofits and community causes, increasing community stability.