JPMorganChase Launches American Dream Initiative to Expand Local Economic Opportunity
Initiative will kick off with expanded support to help 10 million small businesses thrive, up from seven million served today
Efforts will accelerate and scale proven local solutions that advance small business growth, increase affordable housing, improve financial health, help people secure good jobs, expand access to quality healthcare and strengthen local institutions
JPMorganChase today announced the American Dream Initiative (ADI)—a multi-year effort to help expand opportunity to millions of Americans and future generations through targeted investments in local communities across the United States. Building on years of advancing local solutions that deliver results, the firm will significantly expand investments in proven initiatives that help make the economy work for more people, including by helping them start and grow small businesses, find affordable places to live, save and plan for their financial futures, get good jobs, access quality healthcare and strengthen the local institutions on which communities rely.
"The American Dream is alive, but it's slipping out of reach for too many people—and for future generations," said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorganChase. "This slows economic growth, hurts communities and prevents many people from getting ahead. By reigniting the American Dream through smart local investments and policies that we know work, we can work together to make the economy benefit more people—helping them buy homes, get good jobs and build better lives."
Six Focus Areas
Through ADI, JPMorganChase will help accelerate and scale proven, local solutions by: providing financing; facilitating capital; offering advice, training and tools; and advocating for policy solutions across the following six areas where the firm has deep expertise and has driven meaningful impact.
- Business Growth & Entrepreneurship: Increase access to capital, advice, training or tools for 10 million small businesses.
- Housing Access & Affordability: Improve affordability for hundreds of thousands of renters and buyers through increased housing supply and homeownership opportunities.
- Financial Health & Wealth Creation: Expand access to financial education, banking products, services and digital financial health tools—scaling financial education efforts to reach a total of approximately five million cumulative customers, students and small businesses, up from one million served over the past five years.
- Careers & Skills: Broaden access to skills-based training through policy and hiring opportunities, including for JPMorganChase employees.
- Healthcare: Support efforts that provide better access to healthcare as well as promote better health outcomes, affordability and transparency for all Americans.
- Local Institutions: More financing and support for thousands of schools, hospitals, nonprofits and local governments critical to community success across the U.S.
Business Growth & Entrepreneurship: Powering 10 Million Small Businesses
ADI will start with launching a firmwide effort to support 10 million small businesses—up from seven million served today—over the next several years. As the nation's leading small business bank, JPMorganChase intends to scale its support for small businesses to reach 10 million by providing further access to capital alongside coaching, advice, training or tools that help entrepreneurs overcome obstacles and pursue growth, including:
- Increasing access to capital at every stage of growth: Deploying increased capital directly to customers and through partners, including Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and mission-driven lenders, and supporting federal programs such as Small Business Administration (SBA) Microloan, Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) and State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI). As part of the American Dream Initiative, JPMorganChase intends to provide nearly $80 billion in lending to small businesses over the next 10 years, including direct lending to customers as well as through community and mission-driven lending partners, helping more entrepreneurs access the funding they need to start, grow and scale their businesses.
- Providing advice and resources to help businesses manage and grow: Expanding one-on-one coaching and technical assistance through the firm's Coaching for Impact program, with plans to mentor and graduate nearly 115,000 total small business owners in more than 80 cities over the next decade—an eight-fold increase in the number of graduates since program launch in 2020. Additionally, the firm aims to hire 1,000 more small business bankers across its network of 5,000 branches and intends to nearly double the number of Senior Business Consultants to 150, including targeted hiring in key markets such as Alabama, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
- Delivering value beyond traditional banking: Enhancing our suite of value-added services to help small business owners run and grow their businesses, including tools that simplify payroll, cash flow and invoicing, offer robust 401k solutions and provide actionable customer insights.
- Strengthening local commercial corridors and communities: Piloting revitalization programs along main streets in key markets by working with local partners and leveraging the firm's commercial real estate and home-lending expertise to help small businesses attract customers, create jobs and drive neighborhood-level growth.
- Connecting small business owners with better healthcare alternatives: Small business customers have a strong interest in providing health insurance for their workers, but deep concerns about high and rising costs. After extensive research and conversations with customers, the firm has created a resource center to help small businesses evaluate healthcare coverage options and continue to invest in growing lower cost alternative plans.
- Helping small businesses access supplier programs for defense and government projects: Enabling small businesses to participate in supplier programs, especially for defense companies and government contracts, by leveraging existing firmwide relationships and government contractor initiatives. The goal is to empower small businesses to contribute to critical and growing industry projects such as AI and cybersecurity, while also helping them scale by accessing necessary labor and critical capital.
- Advancing policies that support entrepreneurship and job creation: Championing policies that increase capital and reduce red tape for small businesses such as the Small Business Administration's Made in America Manufacturing Initiative to eliminate $100 billion in red tape costs.
"Small businesses are essential to economic growth and opportunity in communities across America," said Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business. "We are supporting entrepreneurs by combining local, on-the-ground engagement with the scale, capital and expertise of the nation's leading small business bank—so they can start, grow and scale in the communities they call home."
Local Solutions, National Impact
From Detroit and San Francisco to Columbus and Dallas, JPMorganChase has a 225-year track record of investing in U.S. communities and working with local government, business and community partners to solve local challenges.
Building on this, ADI will be nationwide with a particular focus on expanding on impactful work already happening in certain markets, such as Atlanta, Alabama, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and San Francisco.
The firm's increased investments will include additional local financing and capital facilitation, as well as expanded advocacy for smart policies that widen opportunity, such as easing housing supply constraints, accelerating small business growth, closing skills gaps, expanding healthcare and banking access and upgrading local infrastructure. By coordinating local investment, policy engagement and partnerships, JPMorganChase aims to continue developing solutions that can be replicated and scaled nationally.
Alabama Spotlight
For over 50 years, JPMorganChase has helped drive economic and job growth, support businesses of all sizes and put the American Dream within reach for more Alabamians.
With 150 employees across the state, the firm serves more than 590,000 consumer customers and over 29,000 small businesses and has provided over $15 billion in capital and credit to medium and large clients since 2021. The firm also banks Auburn University, the University of Alabama, Children's Hospital of Alabama and Infirmary Health System and is financing critical infrastructure like the West Alabama Corridor project.
Going forward, the firm intends to increase support for local small businesses, prepare more Alabamians for good jobs and help more families achieve their financial goals, including:
- Strengthening small businesses: Help local entrepreneurs and business owners secure access to capital, compete for supply chain contract opportunities and other essential resources to thrive, especially in Alabama's growing aerospace, defense and government industries.
- Connecting Alabama workers to high-growth industries: Leverage partnerships with employers in key local industries and colleges to prepare more people for in-demand jobs including expanding existing work with veterans and strengthening pathways to apprenticeships.
- Helping Alabamians achieve their financial goals: Help more people save money, build credit and achieve their financial dreams through new branches and increased access to financial education workshops, digital tools and banking products.
The firm will open new branches in Decatur, Foley and Trussville this year as part of its plan to triple the number of Chase branches to 35 by 2030. The firm will also open its first Community Center in the state, which is designed with extra space for community events, financial health workshops facilitated by the firm's Community Managers, as well as skills training programs and small business pop-ups.
"JPMorganChase has been helping Alabamians pursue their American Dream for more than 50 years, and we know we have a role to play in the decades ahead," said Brian Lamb, Head of Specialized Industries and Co-Head of Impact Banking & Advisory at J.P. Morgan. "By working with local partners to expand access to capital, affordable housing, financial education and meaningful job training, we can do more to help families and businesses turn opportunity into prosperity."
What's Next
The firm will continue to make new local business investments, partnerships and policy solutions in local communities across the six focus areas in the months and years ahead including Business Growth & Entrepreneurship, Housing Access & Affordability, Financial Health & Wealth Creation, Careers & Skills, Healthcare and Local Institutions.
Strengthening America's Economic Security
The American Dream Initiative also builds on JPMorganChase's recent $1.5 trillion Security and Resiliency Initiative, which focuses on investing in industries critical to America's competitiveness, including manufacturing, energy, infrastructure and healthcare. Together, these efforts reflect the firm's recognition that a strong economy depends on resilient systems, national security, thriving communities and broad-based opportunity—and that economic growth and economic security go hand in hand.
About JPMorganChase
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) is a leading financial services firm based in the United States, with operations worldwide. JPMorganChase had $4.4 trillion in assets and $362 billion in stockholders' equity as of December 31, 2025. 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.
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Julia Decerega
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