On December 17, 2002, Palm Beach County's Board of County Commissioners awarded $434,541 in CDBG funds to the Business Loan Fund of the Palm Beaches, Inc. The award is to be used to implement and administer a micro-enterprise loan program. The program will be administered under the following general guidelines:

1.  Eligible applicants:  defined as micro-enterprise businesses; that is a business that has five (5) or fewer employees, one or more of whom owns the enterprise.

2. Location:  When a micro-enterprise is located in a HUD Entitlement Community (West Palm Beach, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach or Boca Raton), the municipality must provide a local match of twenty-five percent (25%) of the amount of CDBG funds requested when the requested amount exceeds $10,000.

3.  Loan Amounts:  The maximum and minimum loan amounts are $50,000 and $7,500, respectively.

4. Eligible Activities - under the program, eligible activities are defined as the provision of credit to micro-enterprise businesses (or micro-enterprise start-ups) by way of loans and loan guarantees for establishment, stabilization and/or expansion. All bona-fide costs associated with starting and operating a business are eligible for funding, except for purchase of land, major rehabilitation of structures, demolition of structures, new construction, purchase of vehicles and all activities which may cause displacement of residents and/or businesses.

5.  Interest Rate:  The interest rate charged to micro-enterprise borrowers which are located in a County, State, or Federal designated target areas shall not exceed ten percent (10%) annually.

6.  Training:  All successful start-up micro-enterprise borrowers must be registered in a business training program through a business incubator or a reputable business training institution

7.   HUD National Objective:  Loan applications from eligible micro-enterprises submitted to the Business Loan Fund must address all applicable requirements of the Community Development Block Grant (i.e., Environmental Reviews, Davis-Bacon Wage Determinations, Section 3 Local Employment, and others). Furthermore, successful applicants are required to meet the HUD National Objective defined under the low-moderate job requirements (i.e. create/retain one full-time equivalent job for every $15,000 of loan fund received).

Prospective applicants under the program should contact:
Business Loan Fund of the Palm Beaches, Inc.
2110 N. Florida Mango Road,
West Palm Beach, FL 33409
(561) 478-2337

160 Australian Avenue
Suite 500, W Palm Beach, FL 33406
Phone: (561) 233-3600
Fax: (561) 233-3651

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