Local CFDC well-represented in our nation’s capital

May 9, 2023

https://www.bancroftthisweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/CFDC-225x300.jpg 225w,

By Kimberly McMunn

Special to This Week

Community Futures Development Corporation of North and Central Hastings, and South Algonquin, executive director, Mary Lynn Rutledge, and loan officer and small business advisor, Carolyn Barker Brown recently attended the 2023 Community Futures Ontario Conference in Ottawa. They were there on behalf of the local CFDC in Bancroft, which was one of 54, of the 60 Community Futures operating in Ontario that attended the conference.

For those unfamiliar with Community Futures, they are located in the large white “house” at the top of the Station Street hill, in Bancroft. Their services include, but are not limited to, providing working capital, investment funding for a business purchase, business start-up or improvement costs, basic business consulting, and a variety of economic development workshops. Their loan portfolio is expansive, with businesses such as tourism, forestry, retail, manufacturing, and service-skilled trades benefitting from funding infusion. Since our Community Futures inception, the local staff have issued $58-million through 1,263 loans, resulting in creating, or maintaining, 3,604 jobs.