RBI and Northumberland County Industrial Development Authority (NCIDA) has awarded their first small business development loan to Crafted Café

​RBI with the support of its partners is proud to award Crafted Café with a small business loan to open a café/luncheonette in Sunbury, PA
​Release Date: October 26th, 2016

Pictured from left to right: Thomas Wellington, USDA Rural Development Coordinator, Amber Deane of Crafted Café, Don Alexander, Northumberland County, Ned Sodrick of NCIDA, Kelly O'Brien Gavin of RBI and Northumberland County Commissioner Sam Schiccatano

​Sunbury, PA - RBI and NCIDA and USDA is proud to award Crafted Café a small business loan to create a café/luncheonette in Sunbury, PA.  Amber Deane, the proprietor will provide a full service café open to the public on Market Street in Sunbury, PA.  The café will use a business model that not only provides the area with another level and choice of goods and services but will utilize other local businesses to provide the raw goods and produce for the foods and drinks they serve.

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Crafted Café is due to open December 2016, and will offer comfort food menu items, coffees, teas, homemade waffles and sandwiches, breakfast options, homemade baked goods, pastries and more.  “I am starting this business due to my love for cooking and people, I firmly believe that “good” food makes people happy and that in turn makes me happy,” says Amber Deane, proprietor of Crafted Café. 

Sam Schiccatano, Northumberland County Commissioner is excited to see the first loan through this partnership get awarded in Sunbury, PA.  “Northumberland County is happy to be part of a program that helps entrepreneurs, and see Sunbury begin filling the store fronts.  This is not an average financial assistance program, it is truly one that supports the business with a proactive approach and provides the educational and technical support that businesses need through the development and execution of their business plan” stated Commissioner Schiccatano.
 
NCIDA Chairman, Ned Sodrick said, “It’s great to see, in less than a year, NCIDA and RBI was able to not only create and implement a microloan program for Northumberland County but in the eleventh month also be able to award its first loan.”  Utilizing the NCIDA funding and leveraging that with the USDA loan dollars has made this a better program.  The USDA Rural Microenterprise Assistance Program (RMAP) allows for 75% of the loan to be funded, so being able to work with NCIDA and the loan fund they provided made this project a reality.  “USDA Rural Development is pleased to support small business such as the Deane’s through the RMAP funding provided RBI, supporting the development and ongoing success of rural micro entrepreneurs.”, offered Tom Wellington of Rural Development.
 
“I am very excited for Amber Deane fulfilling her dream of opening a restaurant. The Crafted Café will fill a much-anticipated niche in downtown Sunbury, and will add to the overall draw of the city’s downtown. I am very pleased that the NCIDA/RBI partnership has provided a valuable resource platform for assisting in the financing of start-up businesses such as the Crafted Café, and am looking forward to that partnership providing more opportunities for entrepreneurs and small businesses in the coming years,” said Don Alexander, President of NCIDA and Director for Northumberland County, Planning and Economic Development.

RBI will provide Ms. Deane and Crafted Café with the business support services, educational/technical assistance, and financial coaching services as it does with all its financial clients.  Ms. O’Brien Gavin stated, “RBI is here to support local business with financial support, and to insure their success by proactively being engaged in their business practice.  RBI is not a bank, we are an economic development group, that can help small business start-ups and with the hard work of the entrepreneur and the support that RBI can provide, get that business to the point wherein they become “bankable”.” 

RBI is a full service economic development organization that provides coaching, advocacy, educational/technical assistance, and financial programs for businesses from start-up to larger companies dealing with growth and retention.
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About RBI:
Rural Business Innovation, based in Bloomsburg, Pa., is the result of a shared vision and mission by the Board of Directors from both the Greater Susquehanna KIZ and the Rural Enterprise Development Corporation. RBI creates and fosters local job growth by aiding entrepreneurs, newly formed start-up companies, and mature companies in identifying and capitalizing on new ideas and opportunities. RBI and strategic partners are creating the environment to keep and attract talent to the Central PA region. RBI manages the Keystone Innovation Zone and the Local Enterprise Assistance Programs (LEAP). There are six business incubator locations throughout nine counties. For more information, visit www.ruralbusinessinnovation.org. Follow RBI on Facebook (www.facebook.com/GSKIZ, Twitter (www.twitter.com/RBI_Corp), and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/PAGSKIZ/)