Grow America Fund Inc

Programs: Gaf provides longer term, lower interest rate small business loans that enable small businesses to create jobs, stimulate investment, and expand the entrepreneurial and small business base in low-income communities. Gaf has assisted more than 580 small businesses owned by individuals previously lacking access to appropriately structured financing. Seventy-one percent of our loans have been made in cdfi-eligible census tracts or to minority borrowers. Gaf not only provides loans with favorable below market terms but also provides individual business counseling at application and continuing through the entire term of the loan. Loans made through this program total over $235 million. Each loan is structured to fit the financing needs of the individual business and carry below market rates and terms. To assist the borrower, gaf caps closing costs and provides business counseling at no cost to the small businesses. Gaf lends in distressed communities in an eleven state market where the poverty level is double the national average. Additionally, gaf operates its small business-lending program in five of the ten most distressed cities in america. Cleveland ohio, buffalo new york, newark new jersey, cincinnati ohio and san bernardino california, have distress ratings ranging from 93. 6 to 99. 9 out of 100 according to the economic innovation group distressed community index. Businesses receiving financing from gaf have created and/or retained over 16,000 jobs, and 11,500 of those jobs are considered filled by low and moderate-income individuals. Over the past several years, gaf has received national recognition from a variety of institutions:- the u. S. Small business administration has acknowledged gaf as a mission based lender for carrying out our mission to make credit available to disadvantaged businesses and helping those businesses to succeed through our technical assistance. Gaf is a sba preferred lender. - in recognition of our work, the cdfi fund awarded our loan fund more than $8 million in grants to carry out our mission. - jpmorgan chase made a $7 million grant to a consortium of small business lenders working with disadvantaged businesses in low income communities in chase's community reinvestment areas. Gaf is a member of the lending consortium and received $2. 3 million of the $7 million grant. - jp morgan chase, pnc bank, discover bank and bank of america support our efforts by making very low interest loans and grants available to us to carry out our mission in low-income communities and with disadvantaged businesses. - the longwood foundation, greater tacoma community foundation and the seattle foundation made program related investments (pris) and grants to our small business loan fund totaling more than $4. 5 million. Below are examples of disadvantaged businesses that gaf's small business loan fund has recently assisted:long beach creamery: dina amadril started long beach creamery in 2015 utilizing personal resources ms. Amadril built out and opened her 1,100 sf ice cream shop in north long beach. The company quickly grew to employ 12 part time employees and is open tuesday through sunday from 12 noon to 10pm. Each employee has a part in the ice cream making process. They serve about 8,000 ice cream lovers a month. Lbc ice cream is made with local, organic ingredients. It is an artisan product with a corresponding price tag. As sales continued to grow, lbc needed additional capacity in the production kitchen. Gaf assisted by funding an expanded kitchen and providing monies for the opening a second location in downtown long beach in a heavy foot traffic area. Gaf provided a loan of $275,000 that included $70,000 for machinery & equipment, $160,000 in tenant improvements with $15,000 contingency, $15,000 in pwc for architect & permit fees and $15,000 in soft & closing costs. Sicilia pizza llc: founded by amro hararah in 1992, sicilia pizza llc has operated at various locations in downtown salt lake city always renting space while preparing handmade artisan pizza's, calzones and sandwiches to its loyal clientele. Gaf assisted sicilia in purchasing a commercial condominium that they had been renting for 6 years. The gaf loan was for $650,000 with a term of twenty-five years at a variable interest rate of the wall street journal prime plus 1. 00%. Campanella auto & tire: paul campanella's auto & tire (pca) was founded in 1989 in wilmington, delaware providing a wide-range of automotive repair and servicing including oil changes, tire rotations, brake repairs, tire replacements as well as more complex work such as custom exhaust and chassis repair. Pca has two locations in the wilmington metropolitan area. The company received $2,475,000 in funding from gaf. The first loan was used to refinance a short term mortgage of $841,000. The second loan was used to renovate a new facility and purchase new equipment at a total of $1,634,000. The new facility features 12-indoor bays and lifts. Similarly, the expansion will also allow for a new office and reception area for customers as they wait. Gaf financing was provided at a fixed rate of 3. 36%. Suresite consulting: founded by jerald warsaw in 1999, suresite provides turnkey telecommunication infrastructure deployment services. Suresite provides customers both the guidance and the service to successfully build and augment networks and infrastructure. Suresite assists its clients in real estate and land development, site selection, network site development, project management, architecture, engineering and construction. The company understands all aspects of wireless, small cell, das and wifi infrastructure and network deployment. The company' staff has engineered, leased, permitted and built 1000s of networks across the country. The company has grown significantly over the last three years. This growth coupled with additional expansion caused a need for additional working capital. Gaf worked with the company's bank to formulate a proper permanent working capital structure and fund new equipment purchase. Gaf's $1,540,000 loan funded $670,000 to refinance existing debt, $350,000 for new machinery and equipment to service contracts, upgrade company technology and $520,000 in subordinate, permanent working capital and for soft and closing costs. Coyote pub and grill: faced with short-term debt and insufficient expansion capital, a family-owned business turned to gaf for support. Gaf responded by providing capital to this family-owned restaurant in port angeles, washington to refinance its high-interest, short-term debt and additional funds to complete the build-out and purchase equipment. Facing out-the-door lines during busy summer months and nearly 30 percent annual sales growth, the mcquays expanded the restaurant to accommodate more customers. In 2016, they decided to further expand operations, this time adding a separate venture: coyote bbq pub. Located in the same building adjacent to kokopelli grill, the new restaurant offers a casual and lower-cost option, serving southern barbeque food and craft beer and cocktails. Gaf worked with the business, and funded a loan of $575,000 with a 15-year term and interest rate of wsj prime plus 0. 5 percent, adjusted quarterly. The loan allowed the business to save money by refinancing $435,000 in two short-term loans used to fund the initial coyote bbq pub build-out. In addition, loan proceeds funded $105,000 for final tenant improvements, and $35,000 for kitchen equipment and closing costs. Little green gourmet: little green gourmet was established in 2012 as a catering service that provides healthy, high-quality lunch meals to new york city charter schools. Lgg's lunch time offerings concentrate on organic fruits, vegetables and lean proteins. Both meats and fruits are locally sourced. Lgg sells pre-packaged individual lunches and trays of food depending on the specifications of the client. Some schools, such as montessori, require that their students serve themselves from communal trays of food in order to develop life skills in each individual pupil. The company started out of a shared commercial kitchen in east harlem. After three years in this facility and growth in revenues in excess of 100. 0% year-over-year, the company moved to its current location also in east harlem at the beginning of 2016 which required some minor upgrades to the electrical to accommodate new appliances and some additional finish work to make the site more efficient. In addition, the company needed to purchase a van so that it could make deliveries to their respective sites throughout the city. To meet this need gaf provided a ten year loan of $150,000 for improvements, acquisition of the new van and permanent working capital.