The Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) is working with Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI), which were selected through a competitive bid process, to lend and manage funds allocated to TDA for its Capital for Texas Program (C4T).

C4T was created as a result of an amendment to an allocation agreement to TDA by the United States Department of the Treasury (Treasury) through Treasury’s State Small Business Credit Initiative (SSBCI), as authorized by Public Law 111-240 (Act).

C4T is designed to increase rural communities small businesses’ access to capital and enable private entrepreneurs to make market-driven decisions to grow jobs, assist their growth potential and employment capabilities through partnering community development financial institutions.

This program supports TDA’s goals of empowering rural communities and cultivating winning strategies for rural Texas, by providing finance options to small businesses and manufacturers that are creditworthy, but are not getting the loans they need to expand and create jobs. TDA anticipates the actual range of loans for the C4T program will be in the range of $5,000 to $350,000, with an average investment less than $100,000.

Federal SSBCI guidelines encourage investment of the funds to benefit communities and businesses meeting certain qualifications focused in rural Texas, including but not limited to: (i) low and moderate income communities; (ii) minority communities; (iii) other underserved communities; and (iv) veteran, women and minority owned small businesses.

Rural Texas: For purposes of the C4T program, TDA defines rural communities as those not located in a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).