The purpose of this grant is to provide funding to the Support Center that will be used as a loan loss reserve allowing the Support Center to lend funds from the USDA, FSA, the SBA, and others in rural NC counties. Golden LEAF funds are expected to allow the Support Center to make an additional $5 million in loans over the next twelve months. Most loans are for less than $200,000 and support small businesses that create or retain an average of fourteen jobs each. The Support Center expects to close approximately 24 loans in rural, economically distressed North Carolina counties by the end of 2014.