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MSU Extension’s Park Local Development Corp. says revolving loan fund helped start and keep local businesses
Summary
Trent Blustrate of Montana State University Extension described the Park Local Development Corporation’s revolving loan fund, which holds city and county CDBG funds, and said the program has made loans to several local firms, retained jobs and provides free business consulting.
Trent Blustrate, an MSU Extension agent who said he manages the Park Local Development Corporation (Park Local), told the Livingston City Commission on May 20 that the local revolving loan fund helps entrepreneurs who cannot qualify for traditional bank financing.
“Super basically, what Park Local is, is we hold a pool of money that was provided by the city and the county,” Blustrate said. He described the source as a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) from the early 2000s that the city and county set aside to create a revolving commercial loan fund to serve small businesses and ownership transitions.
Why it matters: The program provides loans and technical assistance to businesses that banks will not underwrite — for example, startups without several years of tax returns or owner transition financing where staff or employees purchase a retiring owner’s business. Blustrate said his team offers up to three hours of free one‑on‑one business consultation in several areas (marketing, financial management, QuickBooks, social media) and broader training such as QuickBooks courses and a leadership program.
Program results presented to the commission: Blustrate said the fund has financed loans for “over 5 businesses” in the city since his position was created and that those loans have helped retain “over 15 jobs.” He also told the commission that when he started managing Park Local the loan fund was only about 5% deployed and that the program has since deployed over 50% of the pool. He said Park Local administers the money under a subrecipient agreement and that a proposed subrecipient agreement would be brought to the commission for approval.
The commission asked whether Park Local tracks long‑term success; Blustrate said no loans had defaulted in his time and that most loan recipients had remained open. He encouraged business owners to seek free consultations and said Park Local offices are on Third Street in Livingston.
No formal action was required or taken on the presentation.
