Loan Fund

A national Jewish organization has created a $1 million loan fund meant to shore up some of Baltimore's low- and moderate-income neighborhoods. With Mayor Martin O'Malley on hand, officials with the Philadelphia-based Shefa Fund will announce the Baltimore Tzedec Initiative today outside a Reservoir Hill house being renovated with help from the fund. Reservoir Hill is a historically Jewish community, but Jeffrey Dekro, president and founder of Shefa, said that is just "a blessed coincidence."

Sharply rising prices have made home ownership a much tougher goal for middle-income families in Howard County, but county officials are moving to create a $500,000 revolving fund to bring houses within reach of up to 20 more families a year. The proposed program, called the Social Investment Partnership Fund, is in the planning stages, county housing director Leonard S. Vaughan said. The county's Housing and Community Development Board approved the concept at a meeting Thursday night.

BERLIN - Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend chose the friendly confines of an Eastern Shore fire hall yesterday to announce the first spending initiative in her bid to be governor - a $20 million revolving loan fund for Maryland's 365 volunteer fire companies. The fund, which has languished at $1 million since it was created two years ago, would get a $5 million boost beginning in 2004, Townsend said, and would grow by $5 million a year until it reached $20 million. She said the program fits nicely with her campaign theme of linking state government with communities and local volunteers.

Rouse Co. receives industry award for promoting diversity The Rouse Co. was named as recipient of the first Diversity in Construction Award at the October meeting of Partnering for Success, an organization of building industry associations. The award recognizes companies based in Washington and in Prince George's and Montgomery counties for efforts in bringing minority contractors together with business leaders. Rouse was recognized for including affirmative action plans covering women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and Vietnam veterans and annual corporate goals for recruiting women and minorities.

Merchants who will be affected by Baltimore's much-heralded West Side redevelopment project got a boost yesterday, when the city Board of Estimates approved a $2 million revolving loan fund they can use to help re-establish their businesses. City officials have been planning to establish the fund for several months. The board gave its unanimous approval with the understanding that the project's developers, West Side Renaissance Inc., will repay the city. M. J. "Jay" Brodie, director of the Baltimore Development Corp.

The Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund (JREF), a private not-for-profit loan fund, recently elected members to its board of directors. They include the following people: John Sommerer of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Diane Spruill of Columbia Bank, Ken Wilmers of FUTUREKIDS School Technology Solutions, and Clarence Wooten of Network Solutions/ImageCafM-i Division. JREF also elected officers for the 2000-2001 year, including Anthony Tangires, Karen Schonfeld, Edward Waddell, Judy Clayton and Harvey Steinman.

Private loan fund elects board officers, membersThe Jim Rouse Entrepreneurial Fund, a private, not-for-profit loan fund in Howard County, recently elected members to its Board of Directors.Elected were Judy Clayton, Clayton Computer Services Inc.; H. Elizabeth Horowitz, EVI Inc.; Louis G. Hutt Jr., Bennett Hutt & Co.; Alice T. Iskra, Patuxent Publishing Co.; Patricia M. Keeton, Howard Community College; and Antonio P. Salazar, Provident Bank of Maryland.The fund also elected officers for the 1999-2000 year.

The Glendening administration asked lawmakers in Annapolis yesterday for two economic development funds aimed at wooing growth industries and promoting small businesses.Gov. Parris N. Glendening has proposed putting $5 million into a revolving fund to give low-interest loans to businesses in such expanding industries as aerospace, biotechnology or financial services.The governor also wants to make $2 million available next year for loans and other help to small businesses that have been denied private financing.

State economic development officials have asked legislators to approve $6.2 million in new business-incentive spending from Maryland's "Sunny Day" fund for projects that would bring more than 1,000 new jobs to the state, most of them in Baltimore and Howard counties.The Department of Business and Economic Development formally requested the money this week, and the General Assembly's Legislative Policy Committee will vote on the deals this month, said Michael Volk, an official with the Department of Legislative Reference.

A new loan fund to help small businesses create more jobs in Baltimore's multimillion-dollar urban revitalization area will begin accepting applications tomorrow..The new high-risk loan program is funded with $1 million in empowerment zone money and is geared to small manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers or other entrepreneurs who need hard-to-get financing of up to $100,000 to buy or upgrade buildings and equipment.The program "will be targeted generally to companies which demonstrate a clear ability to stimulate job creation," according to a summary prepared by officials overseeing the empowerment zone effort, which includes $100 million in federal grants and tax breaks to businesses worth a potential $225 lTC million more.