Community Capital of Vermont is a nonprofit, statewide small business and microenterprise lender. Our loans range in size from $1,000 to $100,000 and can be used for business start-up or growth and expansion. CCVT specializes in providing loans to business owners who lack the collateral or credit history to qualify for traditional bank loans.
Loan proceeds can be used for working capital, equipment or vehicle, inventory, or to refinance debt.
CCVT’s assistance to small and start-up businesses in Barre was highlighted in yesterday’s Times-Argus article “Local lender, women entrepreneurs, team up to boost Barre” by David Delcore (Article published Nov 5, 2013) http://www.communitycapitalvt.org/uploads/Times-Argus-11-5-13.pdf
We welcome hearing from you even if you are not sure your business, or business idea, is ready for a loan. Visit our web site for more information, www.communitycapitalvt.org, or call Wendy at 479-0167 ext. 3.
From Times-Argus writer Delcore:
“… Driscoll-Morey, a home-schooled baker whose gourmet cake and cupcake business has outgrown her Berlin Street kitchen, will be making the move downtown early next year and is the latest in a string of aspiring businesswomen to turn to Community Capital for startup funds. …
Driscoll-Morey won’t have to look far to find another Community Capital success story … her soon-to-be-downtown-neighbor Cynthia Duprey, owner of Next Chapter Bookstore… Duprey, … like Driscoll-Morey, turned to Community Capital when she needed startup funds in 2011.
Duprey’s options were limited. Thanks to a torrential downpour that caused widespread flooding in May 2011, the hillside behind the Hilltop Avenue home that her family was forced to abandon fractured, putting a strain on their finances.
‘We couldn’t apply to get a (conventional) business loan because we didn’t own a house we could live in, but were still paying on the mortgage,’ recalled Duprey, who said a $40,000 loan she obtained from Community Capital helped stock Next Chapter’s bookshelves and pay for new carpeting and other renovations. ‘That (Community Capital) was the only way I was going to get a business loan,’ she said.
That’s the idea, according to Martin Hahn, executive director of the statewide nonprofit small business lender.
‘We work with entrepreneurs who are generally otherwise unable to get access to capital … to start or grow their business,’ he said.
The list in Barre is long, and will soon get longer, Hahn said, citing the loan commitment that Driscoll-Morey has secured for Maureen’s Sweet Treats.
Other local loans have gone to Party Central proprietor Yvonne Trepanier, Ingrid Lukas-Howe, owner of the thrift shop Women & Children First, and Valerie Beaudet, who has transformed Barre’s historic firehouse into a restaurant, an inn and a home for her florist shop. …
Since 1995, Community Capital has provided $5 million in small business loans to 200 businesses, 80 percent of which were to lower income borrowers. Those businesses have collectively created or retained 500 jobs.
According to Hahn, nearly three-quarters — 73 percent — of the organization’s loans go to startup businesses, like Party Central, and more than half — 55 percent — are made to women-owned businesses.”
Visit our web site for more information, www.communitycapitalvt.org, or call Wendy at 479-0167 ext. 3.
