EthnicMajority

(News Observer) The Democrats are trying to make their national convention into more than just a four-day coronation of President Barack Obama in Charlotte next September. They want to turn it into a statewide event that will help keep North Carolina blue.

That was evident Wednesday, when the CEO of the Democratic National Convention Committee arrived in Durham to drop off $2 million in deposits each with the Mechanics and Farmers Bank and the Latino Community Credit Union.

The money is part of $17 million in public funding the Democrats have received – the Republicans have received a like amount – to help pay for their convention. The Democrats have made it a practice to deposit some of the money in minority-owned financial institutions.

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(Business Wire) Bank of America today announced a commitment to increase its spending with small, medium-sized and diverse businesses, pledging to purchase $10 billion in products and services from those companies over five years, with the spending amount expected to grow by an average of more than 5 percent each year.

“What businesses of all sizes are telling us they need most right now is more business,” said Brian T. Moynihan, president and chief executive officer, Bank of America. “In addition to extending credit and providing technical assistance and a full range of banking services to our clients, we want to increase our support by purchasing more of their products and services, particularly from small, medium-sized and diverse businesses — coast to coast and across a wide range of industries. We hope other large companies will do the same.”

Small, medium-sized and diverse businesses provide the bank with a broad range of valuable services and products, including advertising, furniture, cleaning, courier service, home inspections, legal services, landscaping, maintenance, photography, security and software.

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