A small business development organization in the Dayton region is partnering with a Cincinnati-based hospital system to support local businesses in two counties. The $1 million investment could help bring more businesses to the region and help current businesses grow.
Springfield’s Ohio Small Business Development Center (SBDC) and Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health (BSMH) have partnered to create a low-interest loan program to support local and minority-owned businesses. BSMH, which includes Mercy Health – Springfield, has committed $1 million as part of its Direct Community Investment Program, in an effort to support small business development. Over the next year, the investment will support a low interest loan program for business owners in both Clark and Champaign counties.
The fund will prioritize small business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs that are female, minority or veterans. It will also look to bolster businesses that have a component to directly address social determinants of health by removing barriers to things such as housing, transportation and healthy food.
SBDC offers coaching and financing necessary to start, grow, and sustain a small business. The organization has committed to supporting a thriving local economy by empowering small businesses in Clark county. With this new investment from BSMH, the group will be able to expand its effort into Champaign county for the first time as well.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen firsthand how lives and communities are transformed when we intentionally focus our efforts and funding on the types of business owners who are often overlooked by the traditional banking system and ill-supported by government and community-based programs,” said Rob Alexander, SBDC executive director. “This new program builds on those recent efforts, and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with Bon Secours Mercy Health to ensure that not only are financial resources flowing into all corners of the communities we serve, but also that they are being used to address the most pressing problems affecting our health.”
Bon Secours Mercy Health, headquartered in Bond Hill, is one of the 20 largest health systems in the United States and the fifth-largest Catholic health system in the country.
The ministry employs more than 60,000 associates with more than 1,200 care sites and 48 hospitals in Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Virginia and Ireland.
The Small Business Development Center in Springfield is one of nearly 1,000 SBDCs in the United States. Each year, more than a dozen business coaches at the center work with over 350 business owners who are trying to start and grow the business of their dreams. The SBDC in Springfield is the only one in the country that actually manages loan funds and makes direct loans to entrepreneurs, which it has done since its founding in 1984.
