Business loan fund available
for ‘green lending’ in five rural Maine counties
WISCASSET — Coastal Enterprises, Inc. in Wiscasset has been awarded a $1.5 million federal grant for community development in rural areas. This award will be targeted to “green” lending — alternative energy, energy efficiency, local food production, forestry and forestry-related businesses, and a broad array of environmentally targeted enterprises or businesses wanting to “green” their operations. Loans will be available to businesses in five distressed rural Maine counties including Aroostook, Piscataquis, Somerset, Washington and Franklin.
CEI has documented demand from green job-generating small businesses that have investment capital needs of over $19 million, and the potential to create over 200 jobs. These include a valued-added agricultural producer, a solar rooftop installation company, and a community-scale wind farm.
CEI’s Green Revolving Loan Fund links economic and workforce development to create jobs for low-income people and provides flexible financial products to businesses, community facilities and families in the region. Expected outcomes of the new award include:
• Creation or retention of 125 livable wage jobs targeted to low-income individuals at 10 businesses in the growing green and clean economic sectors.
• Investment in four affordable rental housing developments, each built or retrofitted to a high environmental standard, providing 30 construction jobs and serving 100 percent low-income households.
• Investment in one 20-unit workforce homeownership project providing 25 construction jobs and serving families at or below certain income guidelines.
• Provision of predevelopment loans and business technical assistance services to four community renewable energy projects, resulting in the creation of sustainable, replicable investment and business models that contribute to the development of the smart grid, reduction of carbon emissions, sustainable practices and increased employment.
The grant from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Community Development Finance Institution’s Fund will help fund CEI’s programs to provide loans to rural small businesses, according to a press release from U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe (both R-Maine). “Investing in affordable housing and community development in Maine’s rural and underserved areas will provide an opportunity for economic revitalization,” they said in the release. Awards are granted through an annual competitive application process.
“Maine’s Congressional representatives, Sens. Snowe and Collins and Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree, have had an instrumental impact on making sure that Maine’s rural business growth opportunities are addressed,” said Ron Phillips, chief executive officer of Coastal Enterprises.
