The County of Chautauqua Industrial Development Agency will continue to accept applications to provide low-interest loans to both businesses and nonprofit organizations as a means to respond to economic injury resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This new round of funding starts immediately.

In early 2020, as part of EDA’s CARES Act Recovery Assistance, the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) invited select current recipients of existing EDA-funded Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) awards, including the CCIDA, to apply for a supplemental RLF award to help respond to the unusual and compelling urgency of the coronavirus pandemic. EDA had determined that the CCIDA, by virtue of its longstanding and substantial investment in making credit available to small businesses, possessed unique abilities to support the CARES Act Recovery Assistance initiative and that it was therefore in the public’s best interest to make this award available on a non-competitive basis.

In mid-2020, the CCIDA team immediately responded to this invitation with the required documentation to apply for the funding. As part of the application process, CCIDA staff created a detailed plan for prudently deploying the funds in a way that would provide maximum flexibility for recipients as well as timeliness in deploying the funding in order to accelerate economic recovery within the County.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) originally announced on Sept. 9, 2020, that the CCIDA had been selected as the recipient of a $10.5 million grant through the CARES Act, which enabled the agency to establish a new Revolving Loan Fund.

The RLF has been providing capital, in the form of low-interest loans, since its initial launch. The RLF Program was made available to a wide-range of industry sectors, including professional services, non-profits, and other sectors that had previously been excluded from receiving CCIDA loan funds. As currently established, the RLF will provide loans of no less than $25,000 and not to exceed $100,000, with an interest rate of 2.44% (the lowest allowed).

Since the establishment of the RLF, the CCIDA has been able to assist more than 50 businesses and non-profit organizations in Chautauqua County, allowing them to remain in operation, thereby saving thousands of jobs and helping the local economy rebound.

Mark Geise, Deputy County Executive for Economic Development and CEO of the CCIDA stated that “we still have funding remaining from the initial award, and the application and program details are currently available.” He urges anyone interested in applying to contact the CCIDA office at 716-661-8900.