Lexington, KY. – Community Ventures received $749,000 for a new loan program that will provide much needed business loans to small business owners and entrepreneurs throughout Kentucky. This past month, the United States Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) Fund announced the 321 recipients of its FY 2019 Financial Assistance (FA) Awards, naming Community Ventures among the organizations to receive an award.

Community Ventures will use its award to develop its new Impetus Fund – a loan program designed to lend $3 Million to Kentucky micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners looking to start or grow their business, purchase new equipment or inventory, and help create jobs across the Commonwealth. As part of this new loan product, qualifying micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners may also be eligible for four months of interest only payments. Community Ventures created the new loan fund to allow low-income micro-entrepreneurs and small business owners who may have had difficulty borrowing from traditional lenders to be able to borrow between $5,000 and $1 million.

Community Ventures has also committed to using $149,000 of its FA Award to lending in persistent-poverty counties in Eastern Kentucky. Persistent-poverty counties are those where the poverty rate has exceeded 30% for each of the last three 10-year census recordings. Community Ventures plans to use these funds to spark economic development, create jobs, and encourage local entrepreneurship in various counties in Eastern Kentucky counties.