Tacoma to deploy $4 million in state CRP funds for loans, rent and asset grants to locally based businesses

Tacoma’s Economic Development Committee heard a briefing Jan. 14 on a $4 million Community Reinvestment Project allocation from the Washington State Department of Commerce that city staff plan to deploy as loans and grants for Tacoma-based businesses and nonprofits. City staff said the package is intended to benefit communities harmed by the historical enforcement of drug laws and must be spent under a Commerce timetable that staff characterized as “aggressive.”

The CRP funding comes through the Department of Commerce’s Blended Capital Enhancements Program. “The CRP is a program of the Washington State Department of Commerce. This community design plan is intended to uplift communities that were harmed by the historical design and enforcement of state and federal criminal laws and penalties for the war on drugs,” Business and Economic Development Analyst Georgia Patterson told the committee.

City staff described the $4 million allocation as split into two loan products totaling $2.6 million and two grant streams totaling $1 million. The loan programs include an Uplift loan (collateral-free loans up to $100,000 intended for existing businesses or nonprofits with at least three years of operation) and an Accelerator loan (larger loans up to $1,000,000 aimed at longer‑standing businesses for property acquisition or major investments). The grant programs are a commercial rent grant (50%…