The major banks and credit unions of Michigan’s Great Southwest are certainly living up to their designation as “essential” employers during the coronavirus pandemic. While many of us are working from home and wondering when we can get back to work, financial experts in our midst are churning paper at an historic pace to assure that many of the companies we all work for will be around on the other side of all of this.
Cornerstone Alliance President & CEO Rob Cleveland reports this morning that local lenders on the front line are keeping the wheels of commerce turning at a remarkable rate of speed.
Cleveland says that the banks and credit unions of Berrien County have already approved more than 1,100 Paycheck Protection Program loans here totaling nearly a quarter of a billion dollars for local businesses on the ropes.
Cleveland says $230,000,000 in local loans have garnered approval thanks to the diligence of local banks and credit unions “taking extraordinary measures to keep our businesses alive.” Pointing to the distinctive advantage of local controlled financial institutions, Cleveland says, “There’s never been a more critical time to have a lender with the ability to make decisions locally.”
Clearly, local lenders have answered that call and delivered substantially, and all the while operating as Cleveland notes, “behind the scenes,” and under the radar.
He took to Facebook and social media today to personally issue a thank you message to local experts at financial institutions across the county including Chemical Bank, 1st Source Bank, United Federal Credit Union, Honor Credit Union, Edgewater Bank, Fifth Third Bank and Horizon Bank.
Cleveland notes, “The Paycheck Protection Program was well-intended and the roll out has been okay. Whenever you are doing something of this scale, there will be bumps in the road. However, our local banks and credit unions have been up to the challenge. The bank and credit union presidents have been intimately involved with this program, the senior lenders and commercial lenders working non-stop, on weekends and after-hours to get as many applications in for local businesses. The lenders are helping businesses of all sizes, all industries and all loan sizes, from loans in the millions to loans in the thousands.”
The true impact, says Cleveland, is that, “The Paycheck Protection Program will keep people employed. It will keep businesses operating. It is a program that was championed by Congressman Upton and he’s been in touch with us regularly about the needs of our area small businesses. The loans have been approved and are being funded.”
The economic development pro reminds us, “This pandemic has brought to light many previously unrecognized people who are vital to the survival of our economy. In addition to health care workers, it is the truck driver who delivers our food, the grocery store worker still showing up to put food on the shelves, and so many others. And we cannot overlook the important role that lenders are playing right now.”
Cleveland is deeply appreciative of the strong local contingent of financial experts, telling us, “A key to getting any project off the ground is access to financing. Having a lender at the local level with the ability to make decisions and approve loans is so important to a successful economic development program. We are so fortunate in a community our size to have so many local lenders with decision-making authority. And, all of the presidents of these banks are visible. They’re active in our community, in the service organizations, in the schools. They are able to support local business because they live here and know the people they are loaning money to.”
Cornerstone Alliance has played a key role in helping shepherd local businessmen and women through the Paycheck Protection Program process with local financial institutions, as well as other options. They were among the first to launch an Economic Relief Task Force targeted to the business community of our region, and as Berrien County’s lead economic development agency, later partnered with the Berrien Community Foundation and the Southwestern Michigan Tourist Council to ramp up a zero-interest loan program for Berrien County businesses and nonprofit organizations that have a rent or mortgage payment due in April and May of 2020. Yesterday they announced that more than 20 local businesses have been approved for that program thus far.
Cleveland’s team also announced recently that a total of 144 small business grant recipients from Southwest Michigan are receiving allocations as part of the state’s Michigan Small Business Relief Program, with an average grant award of $5,555.00. Cornerstone was an integral part of that process.
The Cornerstone Alliance Small Business Services team also plays a key role in application processing for SBA loans and features its own microloan program that has helped small businesses for years in the region.
