The Black Business Investment Fund of Central Florida is suing the Department of Economic Opportunity for its refusal to certify the group as a Black Business Investment Corporation for the current fiscal year, thus losing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars to loan to minority-owned businesses.
DEO, which administers the Black Business Loan Program, denied the certification because of a dispute between the agency and BBIFCF over loan service fees in another program. BBIFCF lost out on $184,000 last year because of the dispute, and will lose a similar amount this year if the decision to decertify is upheld by the courts.