Rural Community Development Corporations

In 1985 a group of Rural Community Development Corporations asked us for help in maintaining a federal rural development loan fund. Working in some of the nation’s poorest communities, these CDCs faced a double threat: rising interest rates on federal loans and efforts to kill the program. We successfully promoted legislation to move the program from the Department of Health and Human Services to the more rural-oriented Department of Agriculture. The legislation included a realistic interest rate and authorization for future loans. Fast-forward: Since 1985 close to a billion dollars in rural development loans have been made by USDA, not a dime has been lost to defaults, and thousands of small rural businesses have received technical and financial assistance through a network of more than 100 local CDCs.