SBA to Recognize Mission Lenders during National Small Business Week

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Justine PETERSEN Housing & Reinvestment Corp., a microlending organization based in St. Louis is the winner of the first-ever Jody C. Raskind Microlender of the Year Award. The award will be presented as part of the National Small Business Week 2015 Celebrations.

Justine PETERSEN is being recognized for its superior performance in placing $2.6 million in microloan capital into underserved markets in Missouri, Illinois and Kansas (390 loans); the most in both dollars and number of loans among all SBA Microlenders in FY 2014.  Accepting the award for Justine PETERSEN will be founder Robert Boyle.

The Microlender of the Year Award is named for Jody C. Raskind, a long-time SBA employee.  Raskind was a pioneer in U.S. microlending and a leading force behind the 1992 establishment of the SBA Microloan Program. She headed the program for many years until last September when she lost a protracted battle with cancer, just a few days before retirement.  During her association with the program, about 55,000 microloans were made totaling $655 million.

SBA is also acknowledging the outstanding work of Empire State Certified Development Corp. (Empire State CDC), a New-York-based CDC, as the winner of the first-ever National Small Business Week Community Advantage Lender of the Year Award.

A subsidiary of the New York Business Development Corporation, Empire State CDC is New York's largest SBA 504 lender and consistently ranks in the top five among the 242 certified development companies nationwide.  In FY 2014, Empire State CDC led the nation in approving $8.6 million of Community Advantage (CA) Loans to 66 different small businesses.  Empire State CDC President and CEO Patrick J. MacKrell will accept the award.

The Jody C. Raskind Microlender of the Year Award and the Community Advantage Lender of the Year Award will be presented at a ceremony and reception at the White House, on Friday, May 8, the final day of National Small Business Week.

Each year since 1963, the president of the United States has issued a proclamation calling for the celebration of National Small Business Week. This year National Small Business Week will be recognized from May 4-8 with national events planned in Miami/Boca Raton, Los Angeles, San Antonio, New York and Washington, D.C.  Events throughout the week will be live-streamed on SBA's website at www.sba.gov.  Make sure to check in during the event for live social media engagement, using the hashtag #DreamSmallBiz. For more information on the national events please visit: www.sba.gov/smallbusinessweek.

In addition to Justine PETERSEN as the award winner, the following complete list of the top 10 SBA Microlenders:

Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs Credit Corp., Ohio; Union County Economic Development Corporation, N.J.; Economic and Community Development Institute, Ohio; Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative Corporation, Wis; Valley Economic Development Center, Calif.; Renaissance Economic Development Corporation, N.Y.; Cooperative Business Assistance Corporation, N.J.; ACCION Texas, Inc., Texas; and Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, Ky.

Completing the top 10 SBA Community Advantage lenders are:

Valley Economic Development Center, Calif.; CDC Small Business Finance Corp., Calif.; OBDC Small Business Finance, Calif; Regional Business Assistance Corp., N.J.; Growth Capital, Ohio; PeopleFund, Texas; Eastern Maine Development Corp., Maine; ACCION Texas, Inc., Texas; and Mountain West Small Business Finance, Utah.

A table showing both the top 10 Microlenders and top 10 Community Advantage lenders with their respective rankings and loan production may be accessed at https://www.sba.gov/sites/default/files/Top10-microloan-ca-lenders-fy14.pdf

Small Business Week 2015 sponsors include: Chase, Microsoft, Colonial Life, Office Depot, yp, ADP, Visa, PayPal, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Facebook, National Association of Government Guaranteed Lenders, CT Corporation, Sam's Club, Como, Indeed, Manta, Marriott, Raytheon.

Cosponsorship Authorization # SBW 2015. SBA's participation in this cosponsored activity is not an endorsement of the views, opinions, products or services of any Cosponsor or other person or entity. All SBA/SCORE programs and services are extended to the public on a nondiscriminatory basis. Reasonable arrangements for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance.  Contact: [email protected]. SCORE is partially funded by SBA Cooperative Agreement No. SBAHQ-14-S-0001.

Release Number: 15-37

Contact: David Hall (202) 205-6697
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news 
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SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration

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