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SOREDI gets pair of $150,000 grants for business loans Southern Oregon Regional Economic Development has secured a pair of $150,000 federal grants to add to its revolving loan fund for small businesses. The grants, awarded Thursday, came from the Rural Business-Cooperative Service, a branch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development. The first grant is part of a regular annual allocation for Oregon from the USDA. The second is specifically earmarked for use in the Josephine County Enterprise Community, which includes most of that county outside Grants Pass. Businesses there get incentives to encourage growth. "This investment is one step needed to attract small businesses to rural Oregon," said Lynn Schoessler, state director of USDA Rural Development. "We will continue to work with our state, regional and local partners to keep rural Oregon economically viable and a great place to do business." With the funding, SOREDI offers low-interest loans to businesses to create or retain jobs or to create new businesses. With the new grants, the loan fund tops $5 million. Since 1995, the agency has made about 70 loans totaling $4.7 million to businesses in Jackson and Josephine counties and created or retained 620 jobs. Though the loans are relatively high risk, only four of the 70 have gone into default. SOREDI officials said the grants come at a good time, since much of the fund is committed. "We�re getting pretty well loaned out," said SOREDI�s Bob Bueoy, who oversees the program. About 44 percent of the loans made from the fund have gone to the Josephine County Enterprise Community. About $1.957 million from the fund has been invested there, creating or retaining 220 jobs. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA