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22 <br /> 1 farming & food systems related enterprises throughout Orange County. Although grant funds <br /> 2 began to accrue in 2012 following the passage of the one-quarter cent sales tax in November, <br /> 3 2011, no grant activity immediately followed due to a delay in setting guidelines and application <br /> 4 procedures. The two grant programs went "live" in 2015 after the Orange County Economic <br /> 5 Development Department's Advisory Board in 2014 drafted recommended guidelines and <br /> 6 applications, and following the BOCC's review, suggested amendments and approval of the two <br /> 7 New grant programs in early 2015. <br /> 8 The Small Business Loan Program is similar in to the new grant programs in the <br /> 9 sense that the loan program also has an application review committee, guidelines and by-laws, <br /> 10 is supported by Article 46 funding, and is also intended to support the recruitment, retention and <br /> 11 expansion of small businesses in Orange County. The loan program seeks to assist small firms <br /> 12 that may have difficulty accessing traditional banking financing due to small and start-up firms <br /> 13 often having insufficient operating history, poorer credit history, etc. The County's loan program <br /> 14 was created by the BOCC in 1999, received initial funds to lend in 2007, and became very <br /> 15 active in 2011 following a transfer of additional funds to lend. Historic loans have been made up <br /> 16 to $50,000.00 for a maximum of 5 years repayment terms. <br /> 17 A current summary of activities is presented below regarding the Small Business Investment <br /> 18 Grant program, the Agriculture Economic Development Grant program, and the Small Business <br /> 19 Loan program. <br /> 20 Steve Brantley presented the following PowerPoint presentation: <br /> 21 <br /> 22 (1) Agriculture Economic Development Grants <br /> 23 (summary dated 9/21/15) <br /> 24 • Program became active after being approved by the BOCC in March 2015. Marketing <br /> 25 campaign began. <br /> 26 • 7 initial agriculture grants totaling $57,987.00 were recently approved in the program's <br /> 27 first quarterly round of applicant reviews. <br /> 28 • 1 application was denied. <br /> 29 • Grant program is funded by up to $60,000.00 annually from Article 46 proceeds (one- <br /> 30 quarter cent sales tax for economic development). <br /> 31 • $120,276.26 is available for future agriculture business grants. <br /> 32 <br /> 33 Agriculture Grant Recipients <br /> 34 7 GRANT RECIPIENTS: <br /> 35 Boxcarr Farms <br /> 36 COLORFIELDS <br /> 37 Dawnbreaker Farms <br /> 38 Four Leaf Farm <br /> 39 Smith's Family Fun Farm <br /> 40 sweet retreat ORCHARD <br /> 41 Taylor Fish Farm <br /> 42 <br /> 43 Approved Agriculture Grants <br /> 44 (initial quarterly review) <br /> 45 <br /> 46 Use of Grants by Recipients: <br /> 47 • Taylor Fish Farm (Valee Taylor—fish processing) <br /> 48 • BoxCarr Farm (Austin Genke —fencing for milk goats) <br /> 49 • ColorFields Farm (Kelly Morrison — greenhouses) <br /> 50 • Four Leaf Farm (Tim McCaller— greenhouses) <br />