USDA Rural Development awarding $750,000 to Grow South Dakota

One South Dakota non-profit aiming to help small businesses in the state is receiving $750,000 from the federal government.

Grow South Dakota has been providing advancement of housing, education, and economic opportunities for 17 counties in the state.

A large piece to that aid comes from federal funding. The USDA Rural Development is giving the non-profit $750,000 to build upon its work and reach more opportunities.

The department is building upon $22 million of past funding awarded to Grow SD.

Lori Finnesand is the CEO for Grow SD. She said the relationship with Rural Development has helped them achieve their goals.

“Rural Development has been a great partner, like I mentioned, over 30 years we have partnered with them. There’re opportunities with them for us to access money, loan capital that we can turn around and relend to businesses across the state. They have a wide variety of programs, so we look to work with them and access capital whenever that’s feasible within their program,” Finnesand said. 

Grow SD works with a variety of small businesses at different stages of development.

Finnesand said supporting these businesses can mean a lot to communities.

“This is a great opportunity for us to access additional capital for our loan fund that we can use to support businesses throughout the state of South Dakota. It helps us to keep jobs and retain businesses, especially in the small, rural towns across South Dakota. It really is rewarding for us to be able to assist businesses. It might be a small-town business that if that wasn’t there, they might have to drive several miles in order to access groceries or to access repair items,” Finnesand said. 

She also said that the funding will go towards lending to some small businesses in need.