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Financial Lending & Innovation Collaborative receives $100,000 to expand program
Berks County Commissioners are allocating $100,000 in county funds to support the Financial Lending and Innovation Collaborative (FLIC), led by Alvernia University’s O’Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship.
“The county is excited to be taking steps to put our IMAGINE Berks plan into action rather than just becoming another plan gathering dust on the shelf,” said Commissioner Christian J. Leinbach. “We have great institutions and organizations in our community like the O’Pake Institute that have a foundation to maximize those dollars to strengthen the overall economic development of the county.”
The allocation for the FLIC program is part of the county’s implementation of the first year of the IMAGINE Berks Economic Development Plan. One of the key action items for the first year of the plan was the creation of a high-risk microcredit fund. Through this collaboration with the O’Pake Institute, the county is able to help expand and accelerate the FLIC program to further support and encourage entrepreneurship.
“The county’s FLIC support funds are extremely important to the program, as they essentially doubled the funds we raised with our industry partners and private supporters, which are now readily available as early-stage funding that fuels innovation, entrepreneurship and the regional economic growth,” said Dr. Rodney S. Ridley Sr., vice president for research, economic development and innovation and chief operating officer of the O’Pake Institute.
FLIC assists Alvernia’s O’Pake Institute in supporting community entrepreneurs and small businesses by providing access to financing during the early stages of a business. These funds are provided by participating financial institutions, foundations, philanthropic donors and community organizations to help early-stage entrepreneurs obtain funding. Initially, FLIC plans to award 3-5 project grants each quarter valued at up to $5,000. With this additional funding from the county, the program will be able to significantly increase that volume.
“This sends a clear signal to everyone that this region is serious about creating an environment that will support early-stage entrepreneurship and small businesses through micro-grants and micro-loans that are typically extremely difficult to obtain. We thank the county leadership team for their progressive support of these efforts,” Ridley said.
Early-stage and established businesses enter the O’Pake Insitute’s Spark Business Incubator Client Services intake process as funding applicants to receive a feasibility analysis and needs assessment to determine funding eligibility.
Once a business is funded, services through Spark’s network of incubators become available. Services include but are not limited to business planning, technology transfer, social media marketing, branding and website development. Funded businesses are also required to match the funded dollars or goods and services to the community.
Alvernia students in the fellows program gain experience through FLIC and their participation on the O’Pake Finance Committee. The committee works with FLIC to prepare financial statements, promote financial literacy and develop business plans for entrepreneurs while preparing them to become clients of The Spark Business Incubator to receive expanded entrepreneurial resources.
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