Community Vitality Center Board Minutes

October 13, 2010, 10:00 AM

Stephens Auditorium, 2nd Floor Lobby, Iowa State University, Ames IA

Members Roll Call: 14 present

Staff and Guests in attendance: 3

Craig Downs, Sandra Burke, Mark Edelman

Meeting called to order by new Board Chair Ed Raber at 10:00 AM. Edelman thanked Carol Smith for serving as Board President for two years and welcomed Raber as new Board President. There were no items added to the agenda. Minutes from the July 15th, 2010 Board meeting were distributed and Raber asked for comments or corrections. Motion made by Fisher and seconded by Halliburton to adopt minutes as presented. No further discussion, motion carried with Houghtaling abstaining.

Edelman said that since Susan Skora became Chair of the Iowa Council of Foundations and left the CVC Board, there was no longer a person representing the ICOF on the CVC Board. Mike Stoffregen had been suggested as a new representative to the CVC from ICOF. Fisher nominated and Bonnie Meier seconded the nomination of Mike Stoffregen to the CVC Board. No further discussion, motion carried unanimously.

Edelman reported that the federal budget process was going along and the CVC was in the Senate’s budget for next year’s funding. There may be a need to adjust the CVC mini grant timeline for evaluation of requests as the budget process may again be earlier in the year as it was last year. The next CVC Board meeting is January 5th, 2011. The USDA has awarded the CVC funding for the current year and he is now in the process of doing the subcontracts. Because both Extension and USDA NIFA were reorganized and there was stimulus money allocated as well, the process has been slowed but it is being worked on. For the following year he is hoping to again be on the ISU priority list for federal funding.

Bill Menner, USDA and Joe Folsom, SBA have reconstituted the Rural Development Council and there are now 20 to 30 people meeting quarterly for this; they are still trying to expand somewhat. The RDC held five regional forums this past August with attendance at 30 – 50 at each forum. The RDC is interested in local foods, renewable efficiency, and equity funding for entrepreneurial finance. The Rural Entrepreneur Council continues to meet quarterly at Farm Bureau. The Federal Home Loan Bank sponsored a five state forum on rural development. One suggestion for the FHLB future agenda was the development of an economic development advisory council to work with the FHLB. Access to equity capital was also raised by a member banker. Regionalism and collaboration across federal agencies was discussed. Raber noted that no HUD people were at the FHLB forum but that the FHLB programs would be of interest to HUD programming. Regionalism would mean cross state collaboration such as the upper Midwest. It was noted that those along state boundaries might have more opportunities than others more central in the state.

Part of the SE Iowa Regional Food System Initiative called the Great River Region Alliance that includes 4 counties received a nonprofit grant to facilitate development of microenterprise in the area. As part of this initiative, Edelman and Burke interviewed entrepreneurs and economic development leaders in the 4 county region in September. They will do a benchmarking study in November and will report back with those findings.
Chojnowski gave an overview of the Pathfinders RC&D and there have been some discussions regarding some possible food-related uses of the old Fairfield HyVee store. Water and energy are needed in order to proceed with food processing. The RC&D has received some funds for local food coordinators this past year. The Leopold Center funded a local food and strategic mapping process to take local food networks to the next level and to coordinate and plan. Smith and Downs were involved in these meetings. Smith said that the Iowa Food and Farm Policy Initiative looked at defining food sector issues by using surveys, listening sessions with a goal of narrowing down to actionable policies, plans, and suggestions. This is a legislative mandate for supporting and expanding local food systems. Downs said that they had narrowed down the set to 12 issues and that he found it interesting to be involved in it. Raber noted that there would probably be a role for the CVC in this as it goes forward.

Discussion on the national 2012 Farm Bill is beginning and Edelman went to Washington, D.C. for discussion of a national Extension project on the related Farm Bill topics. The timeline of debate in 2011 or 2012 will depend on the November election outcome. Senator Harkin continues to have interest in and concerns for rural development. Edelman said to think about topics or areas that could be addressed in this bill and its future debate.

Smart Planning Workshops were sponsored by the Wallace Centers and ISU Extension. Since the CVC is cosponsoring these, if any are close by Board members could participate. Halliburton noted that so far there had not been a real public participation in these but mostly staff and leadership people. Halliburton also mentioned to think about how local foods might fit into emergency preparedness and recovery planning. Erb noted that there was Cedar River flood discussions and planning but that the process might change depending on the outcome of the elections. Raber noted that in some ways the legislature periodically wants planning as a tie to future funding. Halliburton noted that in the 80s the state disbanded the state level Office of Programming and Planning.

Edelman discussed the timeline for the CVC Minigrant proposals with the call for proposals to be Friday, October 15th. This would allow them to be returned November 30th and be reviewed for the January 5th Board meeting. Fisher asked about the budget and Edelman said that allocation was around $250,000 and that would provide a net of $220,000 to $215,000 for the CVC, if approved.

Erb asked if there could be a summary of projects accomplished since the Center has been functioning for eight years now. He would not be asking for tons of materials. Raber suggested starting with a list of projects funded. Erb also suggested including the present status of projects. Edelman said that at the 5 years anniversary there had been some review and some mapping done also. It would be possible to start with that and then bring it up to date. As an example, he said that Mt. Pleasant had done a business plan competition and that now others in the area were doing business plan competitions as well. Carolyn Corbin said it would be good to put together some model projects and their outcomes of the projects and minigrants. Erb thought that sooner or later someone would want to have a report of accomplishments. Fisher said that another example would be Kossuth County pioneering the internship program. Erb said that such a report would give the Board information and talking points. Fisher said that there could be a comprehensive database that could give 10 stories of innovation, vignettes and a spectrum of what was done large to small. Erb added that there would be 2 aspects that of promotion but also of justification and results. Raber said first to do a list and second to fill in some outcomes. Erb said that he was really interested in the results not just promotion.

Edelman suggested returning to discussion on the minigrant proposal. Smith suggested using the topics noted in the minutes from the July 15th meeting and putting those as examples into the minigrant call for proposals. In discussion, Edelman said that new banking rules impact equity requirements for loans and that now the Corn Growers have equity funds for development of large projects. Fisher said that the themes of the call for proposals should send an innovation message. Erb moved to accept the RFP as presented and also to include discussion from the last meetings minutes as examples given in the RFP. Fisher seconded and the motion passed unanimously. Erb moved to have an 8 year review of minigrant funding by year, subject matter, and geographic area with outcomes as known. Meier seconded and Fisher called the question. Motion carried unanimously.

Edelman said that the CVC did contribute $2,000 to sponsor the “Dream Big, Grow Here,” competition on MyEntreNet as approved at the last board meeting. The first two awardees were civic entrepreneurs or nonprofits. That did generate some discussion and it now is limiting the competition to the private sector for profit entities.

Downs reported on the IFMCV. The Iowa Small Business (ISB) Loan Program is a state legislative program meant to address access to capital. Loans range from $2,500 to $50,000 and the business must have fewer than 35 employees. IFMCV administers the program and reviews the loan applications after they are reviewed by the SBDCs. IFMCV provides recommendations to IDED. There have been 11 applications reviewed and 8 recommended for IDED approval for about $375,000. As of September 30th, this program has generated or retained 32 full time and 16 part time jobs. There was cofinancing of $325,000 leveraged along with the ISB program. Most loans were in the $40,000 - $50,000 range. The denials were typically because of cash flow issues or poor historical performance. Corbin asked if any loans were to food related businesses and Edelman said none to date. Downs said there were about 40 loan applications in the SBDC system. March 31st is the end of the application period for the program. The interest rate is 3.9% for direct financing and 2% for co-financing. Raber said that the loan application was so extensive for an ISB loan that it was slowing down the SBDC process. Downs said that IFMCV did not have that much input into the program rules process and that a meeting is being arranged among IDED, IFMCV, and SBDCs to see if there are ways to reduce the time required. Part of the problem appears to be a difference in business plan definitions and requirements. Erb asked if there was any population pattern or where the loan applications were coming from; especially urban and rural. Edelman said that not that many were rural so far and that there was a lot of variation among the SBDCs in the numbers they were submitting. He added that it appears that the program does not overlap with IFMCV as much as they thought it might. About half to 2/3 of the loans have been cofinanced which shows that local lenders are coming to the table. Downs said that in general the ISB is looking at different loan clientele compared with IFMCV. There tends to be better credit for ISB applicants. Fisher said that he was surprised that the ISB funds had not gone out faster. Houghteling asked if the loans could be used for working capital and Downs said, “no.” He also said that CVC staffing support for the ISB program administration had been started.

As for IFMCV, Downs said that 30 loans have been approved to date in 16 counties and that there now were some loans past due. The Bank of America program (not Wells Fargo as shown in the agenda) has funded $85,000 for the SBA microloan loss reserve. IFMCV has received verbal approval for the RMAP program that will provide $500,000 for a loan fund and $105,000 in TA funds. Ag Ventures Alliance is providing matching funds for the RMAP program. The Main Street program is underway to help businesses go into restored Main Street buildings. There are 6 communities and funds are in hand and the applications can start at the end of this month if the National Trust loan is closed. The communities are West Des Moines Valley Junction, Charles City, Bloomfield, Greenfield, Sac City, and Iowa Falls. It is a pilot program for one year. The CDFI initiative has hired Jason Yates and is in the process of determining if and how IFMCV might facilitate a CDFI certification. Houghteling said that CDFI criteria and eligibility may tie your hands as to where and to whom you can make loans. It applies to all the funds, not just the CDFI monies. Mary Beth Foster asked if there was any info out on the new funds from the federal government through the Small Business Act. Downs indicated that the SBA Microloan maximum had been raised to $50,000 as a result of the legislation and that there will be a new pilot program for microlenders for loans up to $250,000 once the rules are written and announced.

Rita Frahm said she was looking for a date for next spring for a rural philanthropy workshop. March 16th of 2011 in Ida Grove is the date selected.

Lunch. During lunch Edelman and Raber presented to Carol Smith a recognition and appreciation plaque for serving as CVC Board President for 2008 – 2010.

Board member reports continued after lunch. Corbin said she had been working in food systems and also pushing IT infrastructure development in NE Iowa. Meier said that Orange City had a Pioneer Hybrid research center. They also had a Vision Iowa grant for rebuilding an events center from a fire. It will have a performing arts center, a Dutch village and lake, and an education center for nurses. Fisher reported on the Iowa Venture Award program that has been given for 20 years for Iowa entrepreneurship. This year they will honor the CVC for its focus on microloan and the microenterprise program. The award will be given on December 2nd. They are also having a Tomorrows Partners forum with more than 120 rural Iowans that work with community transformation. Halliburton reported that she is serving on the search committee for the next Vice President for Extension. Burke spoke of the work that she had been doing for the SE Iowa Initiative. Erb said Charles City had been received a national award from “America in Bloom.” They had recruited a couple of industries and had a project for permeable streets. They were doing a riverfront park with a kayak course, had a watershed plan from the 2008 flood of the Cedar River, were trying to fill gaps in broadband service, and that their pedestrian bridge had been reopened. Smith said she was involved in local foods issues and gave an overview of activities that included a trip to Ghana to review women’s microenterprise programs for Self-Help International. Raber said they were going to be doing road improvements in Washington County with a new bonding issue. Fisher said that perhaps there needed to be some focus on population issues for Iowa and rural Iowa from the Census, revisit the wealth transfer study. The 10th anniversary of the CVC will be coming up. Perhaps there could be a theme of “laying foundations.”

Meeting adjourned at 1:30 PM.