By LESLIE COLLINS
Northeast News
July 25, 2012

Kansas City is expanding its micro-loan program, making it even easier for small businesses to succeed.

Kansas City officials announced the expansion during a July 17 press conference.

Since establishing the micro-loan program several months ago, a number of Kansas City-based businesses have benefitted.

Micro-loans helped Richard Garza of Garza’s Goodies get off disability and �Debra Morris, owner of Glory Construction Co. LLC, stopped using Speedy Cash loans for her business.

“What we found several months ago in the hearings that we had with small businesses is if you are a family-owned business of one, two, three or four people, it’s difficult to get that initial loan from traditional banking services,” Kansas City City Council member Scott Taylor said. “This micro-loan option fills that void and creates opportunity for these families to start businesses.”

Taylor helped secure an additional $110,000 for the Loan Loss Reserve Fund by using a fund surplus from a retiring Tax Increment Financing (TIF) project.

Justine PETERSEN, the nation’s second largest microlender, is using the funding to increase the micro-loan program from $350,000 to nearly $1.5 million. The average loan is $10,000, but a small business can receive up to $50,000. Justine PETERSEN has also partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration Region 7 and the Women’s Business Center.

In addition to expanding the micro-loan program, Kansas City has also launched the KC Storefront Initiative pilot project to “target and encourage business growth in areas with vacant storefront availability.” One-third of the micro-loan funding will be reserved for the target areas, which includes a portion of Historic Northeast.

Target areas for the Storefront Initiative include: Independence Avenue between The Paseo and Benton Boulevard; Troost Avenue between 30th through 34th streets; 18th and Vine neighborhood; Southwest Boulevard between Broadway Street and State Line Road; and the South Kansas City area bounded by 470 Highway, 71 Highway, Martha Truman Road and Raytown Road.

To target those areas, the city is partnering with local chamber of commerce organizations to connect the city to potential start-up businesses and current small business owners.

“We’re also working through our BizCare office which fields a lot of calls from new, start-up businesses,” Taylor said.

Through the Storefront Initiative, small business owners can receive micro-loans to improve their business and learn about other available tax incentives.

“These storefront locations that we’ve chosen are surrounded by neighborhoods, and many of these locations have had vacant storefronts for in some cases decades,” Taylor said. “This is one incentive to hopefully spur economic activity which will help the surrounding neighborhoods as well as creating opportunity.”