Northern Initiatives Gets Huge Federal Grant

Most areas of the country are still experiencing problems, and the weak job market is encouraging more and more people to start their own businesses.

Start–ups often have trouble finding capital.

That’s where Northern Initiatives comes in.

The program has just received a $1.5 million federal grant for rural community development initiatives.

It comes from the U.S. Treasury Department.

Northern Initiatives has also received a pair of huge loans itself within the last month.

The 2 loans are worth $800,000 dollars between them and should help meet borrower demand.

Northern Initiatives president Dennis West says it’s been a good year for their lending, too — he says the group closed last week on the largest loan to a business south of the Mackinac Bridge that it’s ever made, $1.2 million.

Northern Initiatives provides loans and business development information to the U.P, the northern half of the Lower Peninsula and the Wisconsin counties that border the U.P.