Tapping the local network: Neighbors in one small town
provide loans that help businesses thrive
Neighbors helping neighbors has long been a way of life in rural Maine, but the residents of one small town have taken that a step further to help boost the local economy.
In Bowdoinham, Neighbors Investing In Neighbors provides low-interest, short-term loans from community members to local farmers and other businesses. The Bowdoinham Community Development Initiative (BCDI) program has coordinated $100,000 in loans since 2012 for a wide range of needs – from a saw for a wood products business to greenhouses for a local farm.
“The idea for Neighbors Investing In Neighbors emerged when discussing the real needs of some of the young people in town, as well as the need to bring back a ‘credit union of the old school,’” says Ingrid Leschefske, BCDI program manager. The first loan in this town of about 3,000 helped a small farm expand with the purchase of a used tractor.
Creating local solutions and connecting like-minded people are key as Maine cultivates a wide array of entrepreneurs and supports their successes, according to MaineCF’s 2018 research and report about the development of rural entrepreneur networks.
But the work of those connectors is sometimes challenging because it’s difficult to locate local entrepreneurs, explains its author, Carole Martin. “After all, many entrepreneurs are working in their door yards,” explained one Maine supporter of entrepreneurs told Martin. “They are hidden in plain view, working from home in a repurposed spare room, barn, workshop – in some cases, in their yards. Knowing the community is key to finding and connecting with these people.”
“If rural entrepreneurs are less isolated and have simple, reliable methods for connecting to like-minded peers with similar entrepreneurial aspirations, they are more likely to succeed professionally and generally have richer lives,” Martin reports.
That’s no surprise at Apple Creek Farm in Bowdoinham, which has benefited several times from Neighbors Investing In Neighbors. Loans through the program have helped Abby Sadauckas and Jake Galle build crucial fencing and expand their operations; they now raise cows, sheep, goats, turkeys, and chickens that produce hundreds of eggs a day.
Last year, MaineCF’s Southern Midcoast Fund awarded BCDI a grant to help it create more interest in the program with expanded social media, a community conversation with farmers, and an advertisement in the town newsletter that generated another loan partner. Projects on the horizon include a loan to help launch a traditional Japanese mushroom farm and purchase a four-oared rowing boat of Scottish design for a Bowdoinham rowing initiative.
The program’s ripple effects extend beyond financing: Leschefske saw veteran farmers at the community conversation advising newer farmers, and says existing businesses are supporting start-ups with advice, recommendations, and networking.
BCDI Board Chair Kathy Montejo says helping small businesses become solid and stable benefits the community as a whole: “The loan recipients tend to have a strong sense of ‘paying it forward’ knowing that their neighbors invested in them. They return the support by offering in-kind contributions to our local school, food pantry, community center, farmer’s market, and more.”
“Networks thrive when connecting people to one another becomes everybody’s work,” Martin points out. In Bowdoinham, that’s just what neighbors do.
Photo: Apple Creek Farm has been able to expand its business as the recipient of several loans through Neighbors Investing In Neighbors. Local investor Andy Cutko visited the farm for the first time to hear from farmers Abby Sadauckas and Jake Galle how this support has impacted them. From left, Ingrid Leschefske of BCDI, Jake Galle, Andy Cutko, and Abby Sadauckas. Photo Thalassa Raasch
