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In reversal of a decades -long trend, new production and distri- "We're just beginning to see some of these projects bution models are attracting get off the ground— ventures that collectively can transform young, innovative people to the farm economy." farming. According to Broadwell, —Fred Broadwell, director of the Self -Help Credit Union Ventures Funds Sustainable Development Initiative these farmers see themselves as stewards of the land and are happily building up North Carolina's soil and working to keep water resources clean. "We're excited to ben working with farm families exploring entrepreneurial avenues to deal with the decline of the tobacco economy," Broadwell said. s RURAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CENTER For more than a decade, the Rural Economic Development Center has worked with North Carolina's rural communities, growing businesses, expanding infrastructure, and supporting com- munity -based organizations. The Rural Center's Capital Access Program recognizes that although local banks are the most proficient source of business lending, banks must limit loans to those with the lowest risk,'This can mean some solid business ideas from "microentrepreneurs" fail to secure financing. Phase One of the CAP involved more than 600 loans worth some $31 million. Golden LEAF's 2002 Economic Stimulus package included a $3.4 million grant to support the CAP's second phase. The Rural Center expects to leverage this into $100 million in new loans by creating a special loan loss reserve that enables participating banks to make loans that carry a higher level of risk than allowed by conventional guidelines. Branch Banking bt Trust Company (BB&T) is one of the banks that has worked with the Rural Center on the CAP program since the beginning. BB&T's Small Business Banking manager, Lynn Harton, sees CAP as a tremendously successful program. "It's an especially successful product that has been good for the clients, the community and the bank. We now have $27 million outstanding, with 485 clients, in both phases of the CAP program in North Carolina." In its first three months, the second phase of CAP is look- ing like another success story. Participating banks have made 178 loans totaling $3.7 million, creating 178 jobs, and assist- ing with the retention of another 511 jobs. According to Harton, CAP has been growing at about 30 percent per year. "These are clients that we would not be able to help without this program," he said. "We are very grateful to Golden LEAF for support of this project." GOLDENLEAE 2002 Annual Report 11