Press Release

U.S. Department of Commerce Invests $800,000 to Establish Revolving Loan Fund to Serve Small Businesses in Seven Disaster-Impacted South Dakota Counties

WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) is awarding an $800,000 grant to the West River Foundation for Economic and Community Development in Sturgis, South Dakota, to establish a Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) to assist small businesses impacted by natural disasters in Bennett, Butte, Custer, Fall River, Meade, Pennington, and Perkins counties. The RLF, which will be available to eligible entities near a Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Opportunity Zone, will be matched with $200,000 in local funds and is expected to generate $2 million in private investment.

“President Trump is dedicated to providing businesses with the resources they need to recover and become more resilient in the wake of natural disasters,” said Dana Gartzke, Performing the Delegated Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Economic Development. “EDA is pleased to support the West River’s strategy to encourage economic resilience by providing gap financing for startup and existing businesses. The portion of the lending area near an Opportunity Zone will further strengthen and diversify the region’s economy.”

This project was made possible by the regional planning efforts led by the Black Hills Council of Governments, which brings together the public and private sectors to create an economic development roadmap to strengthen the regional economy, support private capital investment and create jobs.

This project is funded by the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Act of 2019 (Pub. L. 116-20) (PDF), which provided EDA with $600 million in additional Economic Adjustment Assistance (EAA) Program (PDF) funds for disaster relief and recovery for areas affected by Hurricanes Florence, Michael, and Lane, Typhoons Yutu and Mangkhut, wildfires, volcanic eruptions, and other major natural disasters occurring in calendar year 2018, and tornadoes and floods occurring in calendar year 2019, under the Robert T. Stafford Act. Please visit EDA’s Disaster Supplemental webpage.

The funding announced today will help catalyze private investment in a nearby Opportunity Zone. Created by President Donald J. Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, Opportunity Zones are spurring economic development in economically-distressed communities nationwide. In June 2019, EDA added Opportunity Zones as an Investment Priority, which increases the number of catalytic Opportunity Zone-related projects that EDA can fund to fuel greater public investment in these areas. To learn more about the Commerce Department’s work in Opportunity Zones, please visit EDA’s Opportunity Zones webpage. To learn more about the Opportunity Zone program, see the Opportunity Now resources page here.

About the U.S. Economic Development Administration (www.eda.gov)
The mission of the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) is to lead the federal economic development agenda by promoting competitiveness and preparing the nation's regions for growth and success in the worldwide economy. An agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce, EDA makes investments in economically distressed communities in order to create jobs for U.S. workers, promote American innovation, and accelerate long-term sustainable economic growth.