Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 1, 1 January 1992 — Loan fund fate awaits federal action [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Loan fund fate awaits federal action

by Christina Zarobe

A littie aloha, and Hawaiian creativity and talent ean go a long way — including to Washington, D.C. There were jams from Puukapu Farms in Waimea on Hawai'i, aloha medical scrubs from Mending Threads on O'ahu, gourmet popeom from Vic's Corn Popper on O'ahu and tropical flowers from Olena Farms on Kaua'i on display. By the time the presentation on the Native Hawaiian Revolving Loan Fund was pau offers

were being made by those attending the presentation on how to market the assortment of products sold by Native Hawaiian businesses. "We were really pleased and maybe a little surprised not at the quality of the products, but the

level of excitement created," said Chris van Bergeijk, an eeonomie development specialist at OHA. "The reception we got around some of the products is that there is some real potential for marketing nationwide." The Office of Hawaiian Affairs was invited in early November to make a presentation on the loan fund program to staff at the Administration for Native Americans, about 60 grant reviewers from Native American groups nationwide and the public information officer of the Department of Health and Human Services. The loan fund project, whieh is funded by the ANA and administered by OHA, provides loans to Native Hawaiians who want to start or expand an existing business. The 35-minute presentation by van Bergeijk, Linda Colburn head of OHA's Eeonomie Division, and Darryl Summers, program specialist for the ANA, featured a display of products made by Native Hawaiian businesses that have received funding from the loan program, a brief overview of the project and its performance figures, and a question and answer session. Besides the popeom, surgical scrubs, music tapes and other products, a video on the program, "Banking on Hawaiian Entrepreneurs — Creating New Eeonomie Opportunties" by Juniroa Productions, ine., was a hit, according to Colburn and van Bergeijk. "Having a visual way to translate the program and having that translation eome from the mouths of loan recipients mede it more powerfuI. I think it helps people realize how important business financing is and just what it ean do," she said. Although the reception on Capitol Hill was positive, the future of the loan fund program is

temporarily in limbo. Reauthorization legislation of the loan fund program is part of the 01der Americans Act, Colburn explained, but a lastminute proposed amendment to the act resulted in a decision to defer Congressional action until session reconvenes in January. The provisions of the legislation eall for reauthorization of the loan fund for three years and designates OHA as the administering entity of the program. The designation shortens the otherwise lengthy application process, Colburn said. Currently, there is approximately $35,000 a month available in the program to continue lending whieh "consists of interest ineome plus the principal repayments by loan recipients," she said. If Congressional reauthorization occurs, new "loan principal funding" couId be available through the revolving loan fund program in November or December 1992. "Because there is less money available to lend at this time, the review process will be mueh more competitive. Some applicants will have to wait longer," Colburn said. The five-year demonstration project was started in 1987. OHA received a nearly $3 million grant and began lending money to approved business loan applicants in September 1989. The Washington, D.C. presentation, van Bergeijk believes, helped to inform ANA reviewers who are predominantly Native Americans about a Native Hawaiian project. "They need to see places in Hawai'i and businesses that Native Hawaiians are involved in and they need to hear about them from Hawaiian entrepreneurs," she said referring to the video. "This is a program to demonstrate how you build and strengthen a Native Hawaiian business community."

^ /** k rj w Chris van Bergeijk

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