Colorado Enterprise Fund awarded $2.1 million

The Colorado Enterprise Fund, Colorado’s largest nonprofit lending institution, was awarded $2.1 million from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.

The money was appropriated in last year’s budget, so the enterprise fund will still receive it in spite of this week’s government shutdown, but there may be some delay because of the closure of some government offices.

“This financial assistance from the CDFI Fund will be leveraged in multiple ways to expand access to capital for small businesses in Colorado,´ said Ceyl Prinster, president and CEO of the Colorado Enterprise Fund in a statement.

The award will enable the enterprise fund to increase lending to small businesses and diversify product offerings in Colorado communities, according to a release.

An $800,000 portion of the money will come from the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund’s Healthy Foods Financing Initiative.

This portion of the money will support the Colorado Enterprise Fund’s Health Foods Initiative, in which the fund provides financing to grocery stores and other forms of healthy food retail in “food desert” communities.

The remainder of the money, more than $1.3 million, will be used to help expand capital opportunities for small businesses statewide.

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