The Boston Local Development Corporation will participate in the Black Economic Council of New England (BECMA)’s 2020 Massachusetts Black Expo “Reimagining Black Wall Street” from Friday, November 13 to Sunday, November 15 to promote loans available to support small businesses in Boston.

The Boston Local Development Corporation (BLDC) works to increase employment opportunities for Boston residents by providing small business loans with a focus on commercial, industrial, and service companies. Over the last twenty years, the BLDC has provided over $20 million in small business loans. These loans have successfully leveraged over $95 million through collaborations with Boston’s banking community. The loan funds have helped to create or retain over 3,500 Boston jobs. There are two types of loans available:

• The Standard BLDC Loan Fund is available for existing businesses, new ventures, and businesses relocating to the City of Boston. These loans range from $25,000 to $150,000.
• The Backstreets Boston Back-up Loan Program provides financing for Boston companies in the industrial and manufacturing sectors. These loans differ from our standard program in that loan amounts can reach up to $250,000.

BLDC loans can be used to support the working capital needs of a growing small business, assist in the purchase of a new business property, fund construction of leasehold improvements, purchase new equipment and machinery, construct an addition to an existing plant, and provide for expanded inventories. The BLDC coordinates with Boston’s banking community to provide gap financing through subordinated debt.

In August, BLDC received a $693,000 CARES Act Recovery Assistance grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration (EDA) to capitalize and administer a Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) to provide loans to coronavirus-impacted small businesses in Boston.

The BLDC is a private 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation governed by an independent board of trustees. The day to day operation of the program is provided by the Boston Planning & Development Agency’s Financial Services department.

Small businesses interested in learning more about BLDC and applying for a loan should visit bostonbusinessloans.org/bldc or email BLDC@Boston.gov.