Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Community Loan Fund, (VCLF) a 501(c)3 nonprofit, mission-driven lender, has been named the 2015 Vermont Mission Lender of the Year by the US Small Business Administration (SBA) Vermont District Office. VCLF Executive Director Will Belongia accepted the award at the SBA Annual Meeting and Awards Breakfast in Montpelier on Thursday, December 9. The award was presented by SBA Region 1 Administrator Seth Goodall and SBA Vermont District Director Darcy Carter.
“Financial institutions that made SBA loans in FY15 played a key role in supporting small business and economic development in Vermont,” said Carter. “SBA loans provide low-cost capital to start-ups and small businesses on reasonable terms,” she added.
SBA’s Microloan program loan capital for small business owners through intermediary, local lenders like the Vermont Community Loan Fund. VCLF reviews and administers these loans to eligible small business owners throughout Vermont.
Since making its first SBA-financed microloan in 2010, VCLF has loaned almost $2,000,000 in SBA-provided funds to 65 Vermont small businesses and child care programs, creating and saving 224 jobs. In 2015, VCLF issued eight SBA micro-loans totaling $140,000 VCLF’s current SBA-financed loan portfolio consists of 28 businesses with over $500,000 outstanding.
In 2015, VCLF became an SBA Community Advantage loan guarantee lender. The Community Advantage program guarantees loans up to 85% of their value, enabling qualifying applicants with strong credentials but fewer assets to access loans of up to $250,000. In its first year of lending through the program, the Loan Fund made three Community Advantage loans totaling $300,000, saving or creating 28 Vermont jobs.
Accepting the Vermont Mission Lender of the Year Award, VCLF Executive Director Will Belongia said “We’re so grateful for SBA financing that has positively impacted tens of thousands of Vermonters to date. The loan capital from their Microloan enables VCLF to better serve Vermont’s small businesses and sole proprietorships.”
“The Community Advantage program has further extended our reach, resources and services to highly promising Vermont businesses, making it possible for qualified borrowers to make significant next steps in their growth,” Belongia added.
In addition to funding, VCLF provides borrowers with a broad range of business skills training, as part of their overall commitment to extend tools and services that will help borrowers succeed.
About the Vermont Community Loan Fund
The Vermont Community Loan Fund is a mission-driven, community-focused alternative lender. Our mission is to create opportunities that lead to healthy communities and financial stability for all Vermonters. We develop and promote capital-based approaches to issues of poverty and opportunity.
VCLF has loaned over $90 million to local businesses, affordable housing developers and community-based organizations that has created or preserved 4,800 jobs; built or rehabilitated 3,600 affordable homes; created or preserved quality care for over 3,400 children and their families; and supported community organizations providing vital services to hundreds of thousands of Vermonters.
About the US SBA
The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) was created in 1953 as an independent agency of the federal government to aid, counsel, assist and protect the interests of small business concerns, to preserve free competitive enterprise and to maintain and strengthen the overall economy of our nation. We recognize that small business is critical to our economic recovery and strength, to building America's future, and to helping the United States compete in today's global marketplace. Although SBA has grown and evolved in the years since it was established in 1953, the bottom line mission remains the same. The SBA helps Americans start, build and grow businesses. Through an extensive network of field offices and partnerships with public and private organizations, SBA delivers its services to people throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands and Guam.