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Hometown Business Preservation Initiative

HBPI 2.0 Sustaining a Revolving Loan Fund: Introduction

On January 12, 2022, the Office of Community and Rural Affairs, the Purdue Center for Regional Development, and Ohio State University announced the next phase of the Hometown Business Preservation Initiative, or HBPI 2.0.

Small businesses provide key products and services to local residents, households and organizations. The existence of a Revolving Loan Fund, or RLF, in rural communities demonstrates public support for these businesses and provides a self-sustaining mechanism through which Indiana’s municipalities and non-profits can create access to vital capital resources. Post pandemic, communities with agile and effective Revolving Loan Funds are poised to be more resilient and can better address changes in the economic environment affecting small businesses.

The HBPI 2.0 Sustaining a Revolving Loan Program is an instructional program that will support the viability of rural RLFs in three critical areas: fostering agility through economic changes, grant writing and sustainability.

Selected communities will participate in a 90-minute interactive webinar for each area, during which local leaders will receive expert guidance on how to stay actively involved with small businesses for real-time feedback and support; how to share best practices and tips; how to discuss business surveys and how to review all available inputs to identify new needs and opportunities.

Download a one-pager with more information on HBPI 2.0.

Introductory Webinars will be held on:  
Jan. 26, 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. EST
Jan. 27, 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. EST

Interested communities may register for these events using the link provided.

Online Applications are due by 3:59 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 11, 2022.

Questions should be directed to CDBG@ocra.in.gov or Julie Rigrish or your local OCRA community liaison.

HBPI Phase One: Background and Overview

In April 2020, the Office of Community and Rural Affairs announced a new partnership with the Purdue Center for Regional Development, Ohio State University, United States Department of Agriculture – Rural Development, and Indiana Economic Development Corporation, to launch the Hometown Business Preservation Initiative, or HBPI.

This instructional program guided community leadership on how to establish a Revolving Loan Fund which can provide necessary loans to small businesses based on need. As local, state or federal funds become available, they can be placed in a local revolving loan account and then lent out to identified businesses.

Process

The process included one-on-one online webinars facilitated by a team of experts.

Topics covered in the webinars included:

  • Fund’s purpose and eligibility requirements
  • Primary Administrator roles/responsibilities
  • What is the Loan Review Committee?
  • Use of funds and loan amounts
  • Loan details (length of loans, fees, interest rates, etc.)
  • Setting up the fund account
  • Strategic marketing
  • Loan application intake process
  • Review and funding of loans
  • Track results and assess fund sustainability

Outcomes

In total, 13 communities participated in the first phase of the HBPI program, receiving technical assistance and training to create or to evolve their own local revolving loan funds.

Of these, four subsequently received seed funding through OCRA’s Covid-19 Phase 2 Response Program for loans to businesses and an additional five received funding for grants to small businesses using the best practices and local program infrastructure created as the result of the training.

Interested in learning more about the first phase of the program? Download the HBPI one-pager.