Eight small Louisville businesses receive loans to expand

Loans range from $5,000 to $15,000

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (July 25, 2014) — Loans totaling $71,000 have been awarded to help eight small businesses in Louisville’s Shawnee Neighborhood expand. The loans are part of a program to support microbusinesses — those with five or fewer employees — created by the Louisville Metro Department of Community Services.

The targeted efforts in Shawnee, part of the Shawnee Neighborhood Revitalization Strategy Area (NRSA), are grants given as a one-time incentive, which are forgivable after one year of operating. Funded by federal dollars from a Community Development Block Grant by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to assist low to moderate-income microbusiness owners, the loan recipients are:

• $15,000 loan to Nee Nee’s Angels Childcare, LLC located at 400 South 41st Street. This will allow the owner, LaNita Grant, to purchase additional equipment for the child care center.
• $15,000 loan to 41st Street Child Care, LLC located at 132 South 41st Street. This will allow the owner, Andrea Barbour, to purchase equipment and signage for the child care center.
• $15,000 loan to All is Fair in Love and Fashion, LLC owned by Rae Shanda Johnson who will use the loan to purchase inventory and equipment for a home-based online apparel and fashion consulting business.
• $6,000 loan for Studio 550, LLC. This will allow the owner, Margaret Beaumont to purchase a new computer and software for the home-based video and audio production business.
• $5,000 loan to Joe Ray, Sr. d/b/a Jo Jo’s Cleaning Services for equipment for a full service cleaning business.
• $5,000 loan to Starling Enterprises, LLC. This will allow the owner, T’Andra Starling, to purchase inventory and supplies for a home-based business providing goods, clothing, and accessories.
• $5,000 to Jewell Smotherian d/b/a The Voice for equipment for a home-based magazine that features event information, history and stories about West Louisville.
• $5,000 loan to America’s Finest Concrete Removal Company, LLC. This will allow the owner, Charles Berkley, to purchase equipment and tools for a home-based contracting business.

Additional projects led by the Microbusiness team in the Shawnee NRSA, dubbed “Shine on Shawnee”, included an 8-week “Power Up Your Business” workshop in early 2014 at the NorthWest Neighborhood Place with 39 graduates, and two “Exploring Self-Employment” workshops. There was also a loan orientation in April for businesses who meet the program qualifications and who were interested in applying for microbusiness loans.