More than $2.5 million has been placed in a natural disaster loan program created earlier this year to help small business owners and farmers recover from damage caused by natural disasters in 2019, the Treasurer’s Office said.
State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick launched the new program — called LIFT: Linked Deposits to Invest and Fund a Timely Recovery — in July as the state was experiencing widespread flooding and a damaging tornado had swept through the capital city.
The LIFT program provides loans of up to $2 million for small business owners and farmers located within FEMA-designated disaster areas; individuals must also provide proof of damage in 2019. It doubled what is offered under Missouri FIRST, the traditional linked deposit program.
“Small businesses and farms play a vital role in Missouri’s economy, and we want them to rebuild and reopen their doors,” Fitzpatrick said Thursday. “In creating LIFT, it was our goal to support Missouri small businesses as they recover from devastating storms and flooding, and I am proud we have done this.”
Fitzpatrick said the window for eligible people to apply for the program is still open.
The LIFT program also allowed qualified individuals to refinance existing debt, something that is not offered under Missouri FIRST.
“It’s great to see the private sector and the public sector working in unison, to have government and business working together to try to have this recovery reach its true fruition,” Daniel Mehan, Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry president, said earlier this year.
“Traditional” linked deposit rules are in place for this program as well, Fitzpatrick said. Individuals must be up-to-date on his or her taxes and cannot be a convicted felon to receive a linked deposit loan.
Fitzpatrick launches new loan program for businesses, farms impacted by natural disasters
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
