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Four More Banks Join JREF Loan Program
$1.8 Million Now Committed to Support Small and Starting Businesses
The Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund (JREF), the private, nonprofit financing alternative to small businesses starting in Howard County, has announced the participation of four additional Howard County area banks to its JREF Loan Fund program. JREF now has seven banks supporting the fund, which provides financing for new and small businesses having difficulty obtaining traditional financing. These banks have committed $1.8 million in all:
The Columbia Bank (Founding member)
First Union National Bank (Founding member)
Mercantile Bank (Founding member)
Citizens National Bank (New member)
Commercial & Farmers Bank (New member)
First National Bank of Maryland (New member)
NationsBank (New member)
The founding member banks have supported the JREF Loan Fund since 1992. The Columbia Bank administers the loan fund pro bono.
"The $1.8 million commitment these seven banks have made to the JREF fund is more than a commitment to JREF, it's a commitment to small business growth in Howard County," said JREF treasurer Jennine Anderson, of Peacock, Condron, Anderson & Company. "The support these banks made to JREF enables us to further increase our lending capacity and provide small businesses the support and services they need to get a good start in Howard County."
With the additional four area banks' affiliation to JREF, the Loan Fund has achieved more than half the commitments needed to reach its goal of establishing a $3.3 million fund for new and small businesses. JREF plans to reach its goal by the year 2002 and continues to encourage additional banks to join.
Headquartered in the Business Resource Center in Columbia, JREF provides risk-oriented financing programs and other needed forms of management, educational and mentoring support services for small and emerging businesses in Howard County. JREF helps foster private sector job creation; it supports business expansion and retention in the county; and it promotes increased business entrepreneurship among minorities and women. JREF is a public/private partnership involving local government, local businesses and the local financial community. JREF has provided over $450,000 in loan financing to new businesses and helped create more than 200 jobs in Howard County since its founding in 1992.
For information, contact Kim Ryan, executive director, The Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund at 410-313-6530 or via the Internet at www.jref.org.