NRDA’s subsidiary, Neuse River Development Ventures, Inc. (NRDV) was recently awarded a U.S. Department of Treasury CDFI Fund Technical Assistance Grant to be used to develop a strategic plan for lending and development services to serve small business borrowers in eastern North Carolina’s Low Income Communities (LICs). NRDV has partnered with The Foundation of Renewal for Eastern North Carolina (FoR ENC), a Greenville-based non-profit corporation that directs entrepreneurial efforts in eastern North Carolina by linking financial and intellectual capital.

The NRDV Loan Fund will be a private sector, financial intermediary with community development investment as its primary mission. It will develop new lending products and developmental services that will offer a variety of features that meet the financial needs of entrepreneurs in low income and economically distressed communities. This region served will include, but is not limited to, the following counties: Beaufort, Bertie, Bladen, Brunswick, Camden, Carteret, Chowan, Columbus, Craven, Cumberland, Currituck, Dare, Duplin, Edgecombe, Gates, Greene, Halifax, Harnett, Hertford, Hoke, Hyde, Johnston, Jones, Lenoir, Martin, Nash, New Hanover, Northampton, Onslow, Pamlico, Pasquotank, Pender, Perquimans, Pitt, Robeson, Sampson, Tyrrell, Warren, Washington, Wayne and Wilson. It should be noted that ten of the poorest 20 counties in the United States are located in this region