A loan helped to hire two part-time editors and two sales reps; also upgrade the desktop computer he uses to produce the magazine and obtain up-to-date software.


Calvin's story

Calvin was born and raised in the city of Los Angeles. He started working at the age of 14 with the Los Angeles Times newspaper company as a paperboy. Calvin said, “My childhood life consisted of school, sports and working my paper route for the Los Angeles Times, which is a local newspaper in the greater Los Angeles area.” As a child, Calvin always dreamed of owning his own newspaper/magazine.

As an adult, he saw the lack of resources within the African-American community in Los Angeles, and so he launched Publisher Group, LLC in 1998 to help meet those needs. He was able to secure three companies to advertise in his magazine (Hughes L. Space Corporation, Bendix Corporation and General Dynamics), and now has a circulation of 40,000 readers.

“We pay more for editing and graphic design because we don’t have any in-house editors or designers,” Calvin explains. With a loan of $9,600 from Kiva and PACE, Calvin will be able to hire two part-time editors and two sales reps for his company. He will also upgrade the desktop computer he uses to produce the magazine and obtain up-to-date software.

Calvin plans to increase his circulation from 40,000 readers to 100,000, and hopes more Fortune 500 companies will use his Publisher Group, LLC as a recruitment tool to reach people of color.

Calvin is working with PACE and Kiva because banks in his area do not lend to small businesses.



Loan details


Lenders and lending teams



Loan details