Seedco Financial Services is among the top Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) grantees in the nation to receive federal stimulus funding under the Recovery Act, U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner announced yesterday in the Bronx, New York. Seedco Financial was awarded $2 million as part of $90 million in Recovery Act funding for 59 CDFIs, part of President Barack Obama's continued investment in economic development to help communities hit hard by the economic crisis.

"The Recovery Act is playing a critical role in restoring economic growth and strengthening our nation's financial stability by developing and investing in local communities," Geithner as he announced the awards at The Point, a New York based Recovery Act awardee. "The Recovery Act awards announced today build on the Administration's efforts to get lenders lending again - these awards will help generate capital for small businesses, mortgage loans for homebuyers, and funding for affordable housing projects and other facilities in communities across the country."

Of the 59 CDFI awards, 11 recipients are located in New York, including Seedco Financial.

"We are so pleased to be a part of the Obama Administration's efforts to get capital moving to small businesses and entrepreneurs in struggling communities across New York," Lesia Bates Moss, president of Seedco Financial, said.

"Support for programs like this is so important," said Chris Wilson, a small business owner who received two loans and technical assistance from Seedco Financial for his business, Best and Company Moving. "If it hadn't been for the assistance I received from Seedco Financial, my company probably would have gone out of business."

"The funding granted today will enable Seedco Financial to expand our capacity to finance small, minority- and women-owned businesses in underserved communities in New York City and to align technical assistance services for business owners who cannot access credit from conventional sources," Bates Moss added.

 
About Seedco Financial Services
 
Seedco Financial Services is a CDFI subsidiary of Structured Employment Economic Development Corporation (Seedco), a national nonprofit intermediary that administers innovative programs through a community organization network to help low-income people and communities move toward economic prosperity. Seedco Financial is based in New York City with operations in Louisiana, Colorado, Tennessee and Alabama, and provides affordable financing and technical assistance to small businesses, nonprofit organizations and large commercial projects in low-income and economically distressed communities.