USDA Rural Development and partners held a revolving loan fund stakeholder roundtable in Lincoln, Nebraska via videoconferencing at the Nebraska sites of Kearney, Chadron, Norfolk and Scottsbluff. Thirty-six stakeholders attended, learning about the various revolving loan fund programs that USDA Rural Development offers.
Partners who contributed to the roundtable included Executive Director Jen Wolf of Dawson Area Development, Business Loan Officer Craig Eberle of Southeast Nebraska Development District and Business Loan Specialists Jeff Christensen and Holly Quinn of Northeast Nebraska Economic Development District.
A Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) is a source of money from which loans are made for multiple small business development projects. The fund gets its name from the revolving aspect of loan repayment, where the central fund is replenished as individual projects pay back their loans, creating the opportunity to issue other loans to new projects.
RLF lending aims to help new projects or business owners to become financially independent and eventually to become eligible for loans from commercial banks. RLFs are also excellent sources of gap financing; between the borrower’s equity injection and the funds available from other traditional lending sources.
USDA Rural Development offers five revolving loan programs. The Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program (RBEG), Intermediary Relending Program (IRP), Rural Microentrepreneur Assistance Program (RMAP) have active revolving loan funds in all 93 Nebraska counties. Rural Development also offers the Rural Economic Development Loan and Grant (REDLG) and Rural Economic Development Grant (REDG) programs.
Nebraska Rural Development has 28 intermediaries with more than 300 ultimate recipients, which have created or saved nearly 1,700 jobs. To learn more about how USDA loan programs can benefit your farm, ranch, rural business or community, click here.
