SBA, USDA officials appeal to lenders to enhance rural areas
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Curt Cocodrilli, the state director for USDA Rural Development in Pennsylvania, and Michele Christian, SBA Mid-Atlantic regional administrator, got together with other government officials and about 80 lenders to discuss small business in rural areas.
Dr. Kelly Hunt is district director of the Western Pennsylvania district office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Observer-Reporter
Two federal organizations are teaming up to raise a much-needed crop in rural America: the cash crop.
Administrators from the Small Business Administration and Department of Agriculture descended upon Houston Thursday to speak with lenders – and would-be lenders – about making funds more available and more plentiful to businesses operating in rural areas.
Three USDA officials and two from the SBA exchanged thoughts, suggestions and ideas with about 80 lenders at Rock Student Center. The organizations signed a memo of understanding a few months ago to work together on this initiative, and this was the first time they reached out to the public as a team.
“President (Donald) Trump is committed to help rural America,” said Michelle Christian, administrator of the SBA’s Mid-Atlantic Region, which comprises five states, including Pennsylvania, plus Washington, D.C.
“It’s important for lenders to express themselves on how to get USDA and Small Business products to those in rural areas, and to be able to express concerns, positive and negative. We had a conversation on how to get more capital to small, rural businesses.”
She spoke following the discussion, which was not open to the media, along with Curt Cocodrilli, the USDA director for Pennsylvania. Kelly Hunt, the SBA’s Pittsburgh District director and a Scenery Hill native, also commented.
“We want to spur more economic growth in rural communities,” said Hunt, who knows economics. Last year, her office, which oversees 27 counties, disbursed more than $214.8 million in loans to entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Cocodrilli fully endorses the USDA-SBA team concept. “When we work together, it enhances rural towns and communities,” he said, while standing alongside Christian. “The memo makes us married at the hip. We listen to groups, chambers of commerce, local development districts.”
Robert Scott, SBA’s Great Lakes Region administrator, also was there along with USDA state directors Kris Warner of West Virginia and David Hall of Ohio.
Neither organization in this team has a large physical presence in Pennsylvania. USDA has a state office in Harrisburg and nine field offices throughout the commonwealth. SBA has but two district offices, in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with a staff of only seven in Western Pennsylvania.
Cocodrilli is becoming a fixture in Western Pennsylvania, 230 miles from his Harrisburg office, 300 from his Wayne County home in the northeast. “This is the fifth time I’ve been in this part of the state in five weeks,” he said. “I really like it here.”