State of South Dakota Provides Grant to Business Development Fund

Dec. 4, 2009

Governor Mike Rounds announced this week that The Harvest Initiative, Inc. will receive a $25,000 grant as part of the State of South Dakota's 2010 Initiative. The funding will support the Harvest Initiative Business Development Fund which provides equity awards to growing and start-up small businesses on the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation.

Previously, the Business Development Fund received funding support from Citi and the South Dakota Community Foundation.

The funding provided by the State of South Dakota will enable The Harvest Initiative to double the number of equity awards to be given during the first half of 2010.

The Business Development Fund, which is based on a successful program operated by the Montana Department of Commerce, is designed to address the critical lack of owner's equity available on the Crow Creek Reservation. The program attempts to put reservation entrepreneurs in a similar financial position as off-reservation entrepreneurs in order to access mainstream capital markets.

To date, the Fund has awarded two grants. The first was for a tire and oil change shop and the second was to a hunting lodge and guide service. Both businesses are near Fort Thompson, SD.

For more information on the Harvest Initiative Business Development Fund, please call 1-888-481-9847.

The Harvest Initiative was founded in 2008 to invest locally in native grown ideas and support socially responsible business development to move the Crow Creek Sioux Reservation toward a commercially viable, self-sustaining economic environment.