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Durham to fund phase 2 of Small Business Opportunity Fund; council seeks clearer goals
Summary
Council discussed a proposed contract to administer phase 2 of the Durham Small Business Opportunity Fund, which mixes loan guarantees and early-stage business supports; members asked for clearer targets (businesses served, loan counts) and demographic tracking.
Durham City staff and the Office of Economic and Workforce Development presented a proposed contract to administer phase 2 of the Durham Small Business Opportunity Fund. The program combines loan guarantees for small business loans ($25,000to $75,000) with free early-stage business tools and supports.
Staff and the prospective administrator (Carolina Small Business Development Fund) described program metrics the contractor will collect: loan applications, loans made, capital deployed, loan defaults, businesses served, jobs created or retained, and technical assistance hours. Council members pressed for concrete targets, saying that tracking is valuable but goals are needed to judge success. Staff said the phase 2 loan component is inherently variable (loan sizes range from $25,000 to $75,000) and estimated the program could serve roughly 18to40 business borrowers plus up to 50 early-stage businesses receiving non-lending supports.
Council members and staff also requested demographic and equity reporting (for example, Latino- or immigrant-owned businesses) and a clear accounting of the city's share of prior phase funding. Staff said dashboards and outcome reporting will be provided and noted that the original phase included mixed funding (city, county and private donors) and supported dozens of businesses and jobs.
