Loan plan available for NWI businesses

Money for Northwest Indiana businesses recovering from the pandemic is available now from the Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission’s Recover NWI revolving loan program.

Businesses in Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties can apply for loans ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

Applications can be found at www.nirpc.org/recovernwi.

Money for the loans comes from a $530,000 grant to NIRPC from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, which is celebrating Revolving Loan Fund Week, Nov. 14-19.

The Recover NWI program was launched in July with more than $400,000 available for loans; the rest of the EDA grant went to project administration.

To qualify for a loan, a business or organization must show that it was in operation before Jan. 1, 2020, and must explain in writing that it has been “negatively impacted” by the coronavirus pandemic.

One applicant has been approved already, NIRPC communications specialist Lucas Ecklund-Baker said.

Businesses and organizations of all sizes can apply for funds to respond to economic damage from the pandemic.

Matthew Paskash, NIRPC’s economic development specialist, said the U.S. Census Bureau found in October that 42 % of businesses surveyed in the Chicago-Northwest Indiana metropolitan area did not

expect their businesses to return to normal levels for at least six more months, and another 11 % did not expect ever to return to normal.

“Relieving the pressure on businesses in Northwest Indiana is a crucial piece to a strong regional economy,” Paskash said in the news release.

Recover NWI is a revolving loan program administered through NIRPC as part of the Northwest Indiana Economic Development District, a designation granted through the U.S. EDA in 2019.