December 4, 2023 (Boston, Mass.) – JPMorgan Chase is marking the grand opening of a new branch to support residents and small businesses located in the historic Pierce Building in the Upham’s Corner neighborhood of Dorchester. The branch is the latest development in a partnership between JPMorgan Chase and Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (Dorchester Bay EDC), a local community development organization that owns the building and operates out of its upper floors.
This branch will bolster Dorchester Bay EDC’s work to provide resources to Upham’s Corner residents and small businesses in support of a strong financial future. The community will gain access to free financial health and home buying workshops, business mentorships and job skills training.
“We’ve long viewed Dorchester as a place we wanted to be,” said Jennifer Campbell, Chase Market Director for Greater Boston. “We look forward to building new relationships and helping our customers during life’s most important moments, like opening their first savings account, buying their first home or planning for retirement. Working with Dorchester Bay EDC and as one of their anchor tenants makes this space that much more unique and exciting.”
Chase and Dorchester Bay EDC Partnership
The new branch builds upon an existing partnership between the two institutions. JPMorgan Chase has committed $1.25 million to support Dorchester Bay EDC’s small business programs that provide equitable access to resources and culturally competent technical assistance for business owners of color in Dorchester, Roxbury, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, and Roslindale as they recovered from the impacts of the pandemic and to support recovery and stabilization of these small businesses.
Through the grant, Dorchester Bay EDC has served 15 small business through their business coaching and technical assistance programs. Commercial space subsidies have supported 15 small businesses, including eight Latino-owned businesses, four Asian-owned businesses and three Black-owned businesses. Dorchester Bay EDC has awarded a total of $319,000 with an average of approximately $21,000 awarded to each business.
Providing commercial space subsidies to local small businesses has enabled Dorchester Bay EDC to sustain 75 employment opportunities in Uphams Corner, with 72 jobs retained and four jobs created. The businesses include six restaurants and food service providers, three barbershops, three multi-service providers, one flower shop, one furniture store, and one community organization, Upham’s Corner Main Street.
“Upham’s Corner is poised for significant growth and investment. Dorchester Bay EDC is committed to ensuring local residents and businesses can thrive in the neighborhood,” said CEO Kimberly R. Lyle. “We are excited to partner with JPMorgan Chase to expand opportunities for the community to build a strong financial future.”
Dorchester Builds on Chase’s Social Impact Commitment to Greater Boston
As JPMorgan Chase expanded into Massachusetts beginning in 2018, the firm committed to bridging the racial wealth divide throughout the region by connecting residents and small businesses with economic opportunity.
These philanthropic and business commitments help build generational wealth, preserve and create affordable housing and create meaningful employment opportunities. In 2022, the firm invested $14.6 million in a variety of innovative, unique nonprofit organizations focused on long term economic mobility for underserved communities, including:
- Boston Medical Center’s work to create long-term economic opportunity and housing stability for historically underserved and increasingly marginalized residents.
- EdVestors’ collaborative effort to leverage strong state-level policies in order to expand high-quality career pathways for Boston Public Schools students, particularly those from underserved communities.
- Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance creation of the STASH First-Gen Home Program, which is a match savings program for first-generation first-time homebuyers in Massachusetts.
- Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporation’s Racial Equity Pledge Project, a capacity building project to strengthen the racial equity practices in local nonprofit community development corporations.
Chase’s expansion in Dorchester adds retail and business banking to Massachusetts where the firm serves more than 1.2 million customers and nearly 56,000 business clients. The firm opened its first branch in Massachusetts in 2018 in Boston and now has 49 across the state.
“When Chase enters a community, we bring the resources of a global institution with a focus on local solutions. We want to help people in Upham’s Corner build a strong financial foundation so they can thrive and build wealth,” said Roxann Cooke, Consumer Bank Regional Director, New England, JPMorgan Chase. “With great partners like Dorchester Bay EDC, we’re moving beyond community banking to community building and are deeply committed to Dorchester and all of Boston’s communities, ensuring our neighbors can realize financial empowerment.”
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About Dorchester Bay EDC
Dorchester Bay Economic Development Corporation (DBEDC) is a community development corporation founded by local civic associations in 1979 to address the problems of economic disinvestment, unemployment, crime, community tensions, and the shortage of quality affordable housing undermining Boston’s North Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods. Over the last 45 years, we have worked in partnership with local leaders and stakeholders to build and preserve 1,200 units of affordable housing and over 164,600 square feet of commercial space, to engage residents in community life, and to support a robust economy through small business support and economic development.
The structures we have built are physical manifestations of our work, but at its core, our work is about strengthening the community, which is made up of the people who live and work in our neighborhoods.
About JPMorgan Chase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States of America (“U.S.”), with operations worldwide. JPMorgan Chase had $3.9 trillion in assets and $317 billion in stockholders’ equity as of September 30, 2023. The Firm is a leader in investment banking, financial services for consumers and small businesses, commercial banking, financial transaction processing and asset management. Under the J.P. Morgan and Chase brands, the Firm serves millions of customers in the U.S., and many of the world’s most prominent corporate, institutional and government clients globally. Information about JPMorgan Chase & Co. is available at www.jpmorganchase.com.
