Headline : Three Small Businesses Building the Future in Appalachia

Read more from the original article on here at www.fordfoundation.org.

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Starting a small business is an exciting yet daunting process—especially when it comes to securing early financing. This can be even more complicated for entrepreneurs in low-income and rural areas of the United States, where large banks may be hesitant to extend loans because they are unfamiliar with the communities and contexts that make an idea special. This is where community development financial institutions (CDFIs) come in: They are banks, credit unions, and loan funds that support local leaders, allowing them to realize their visions, set up their enterprises for strong financial futures, and catalyze job creation and economic growth.

Appalachian Community Capital (ACC) is one such CDFI. It raises funding and directs it to its member CDFIs across the Appalachian region, in 13 states and 423 counties, to provide financial assistance to entrepreneurs and small business owners. ACC and its members focus on supporting small businesses and projects that increase prosperity in under-invested Appalachian regions that have historically experienced economic and social challenges. 

By supporting Appalachians who want to bring opportunities to their communities rather than leave the region to find them elsewhere, ACC recognizes that the people best able to build and revitalize communities in Appalachia are Appalachians. Since opening its doors in 2013, ACC has played an important role in constructing the future of the Appalachian region, partnering with more than 30 member institutions to finance new businesses and, in turn, revitalize local economies. ACC launched with a mission to help entrepreneurs and businesses that are creating economic opportunities in a part of America that has struggled due to a loss of industrial jobs, poverty, and public health issues like the opioid crisis, and its work is more timely than ever. 

In recent years, ACC has been able to expand its operations—including in 2022, when the organization received a $10 million investment from the Ford Foundation to further the economic enrichment of local communities in Appalachia, including coal-dependent areas. It has since used those funds to help local leaders expand a family-owned trucking business, start a concrete construction and design company, develop cutting-edge healthcare research, and more—a reflection of the remarkable diversity, strength, and potential of the region’s economy. ACC also recently received $500 million from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Communities Investment Accelerator, which will fund renewable energy projects in Appalachia and targeted rural communities across the United States.

Read more from the original article on here at www.fordfoundation.org.

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