Iowa Lakes Corridor receives Dakota BUSINESS Finance grant

The Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation (Corridor) received a $1,000 grant from Dakota BUSINESS Finance thanks to the hard work of a local lender

Brett Johnson of Central Bank in Spirit Lake earned the award on behalf of the Corridor through Dakota BUSINESS Finance’s inaugural community lending awards.

Dakota BUSINESS Finance is a Certified Development Company that provides Small Business Association (SBA) 504 loans to businesses in South Dakota and parts of Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. In 2019, Dakota BUSINESS Finance established new community lending awards to give back to the communities in which they provide loans. The prizes awarded are based on the number of loans approved in each community during the Federal Fiscal Year 2019.

Johnson, a Central Bank commercial loan officer, worked with Dakota BUSINESS Finance on two approved loans over the last year, which was the most done by a community in Iowa. As the local economic development company for Milford and surrounding communities, the Iowa Lakes Corridor received the $1,000 first place prize.

“We want to say thank you to Dakota BUSINESS Finance, Central Bank and Brett Johnson for their hard work to help local businesses grow,” Corridor CEO Kiley Miller said. “We appreciate this generous award, but even more we appreciate the strong commercial lending capacity in our region.”