Chattanooga’s biggest credit union will mark the start of National Small Business Week next week by opening up applications for an expanded grant program to help capitalize growing startup businesses.
In its 5th year, the Idea Leap program launched by the Tennessee Valley Federal Credit Union (TVFCU) is being doubled in size to provide $100,000 of grants this year to help propel five local companies judged by a panel of experts to offer the most potential for growth and service. Businesses in the 13 counties in the Chattanooga area served by TVFCU that have been in business for at least one year and have fewer than 25 employees will be eligible to apply for the grants, which will be awarded during Chattanooga’s Startup Week this fall.
“We’re upping our ante this year,” TVFCU President Todd Fortner said Friday in an announcement of the expanded Idea Leap program. “In the past, we’ve awarded $50,000 a year and we’re doubling that amount this year.”
Since the credit union launched its Idea Leap initiative in 2016 to provide loans for startup businesses recommended by local business assistance organizations, more than 175 local companies have collectively received more than $4 million in loans to help build their businesses. From the proceeds of those loans, TVFCU created its annual Idea Leap grants, which have awarded more than $220,000 already to startup ventures in the past four years.
Cynthia Evans, who started Champion Christian Learning Academy in Brainerd in 2017, won a $15,000 grant last year from the Idea Leap program to allow her to add and equip another classroom last year and help expand her school to a current enrollment of 103 students,