Dallas, Texas – PeopleFund, a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), announced the receipt of $66,500 grant from the Dallas-based Meadows Foundation for direct support of Texas veterans who chose self-employment to support themselves and their families.

PeopleFund’s mission is to provide loans and educational assistance to underserved populations including minorities, women, and businesses in low income census tracts. The organization especially understands the challenges faced by returning veterans who seek funding and education to start small businesses.

PeopleFund’s PeopleVET program is designed to give veteran business owners the boost they need to succeed. According to PeopleFund CEO Col. Gary Lindner, “The generous support of the Meadows Foundation is a game changer for veteran owned businesses. It will allow us to offer competitive loan rates so they can sustain and grow their businesses along with adding jobs.”

The Meadows Foundation has an exceptional history of supporting those with the greatest need. Bruce Esterline, Vice President for Grants for  the Meadows Foundation added, “We are honored to directly assist Texas military veterans who have unselfishly served our nation. Along with PeopleFund, we will do whatever we can to support their entrepreneurial aspirations”.

Interested veterans can learn more at www.peoplefund.org or contact Lesa Cox, Director of Lending,  lesa@peoplefund.org or 512.222.1011.

PeopleFund is proud to present Hammons Family Dental as our May Featured Client. Dr. Travis Hammons was on a military scholarship while at dental school. During this time he was in the reserves and became active duty upon graduation. In his service as a military dentist he took care of our frontline soldiers and earned the Army Commendation Medal for exceptional service.

Dr. Travis Hammons had just finished a 15 month tour of duty in Iraq when he approached PeopleFund for a loan. As a civilian, he wanted to open his own practice, but lacked the cash on hand to fund it himself. The banks he talked with felt he was not established enough, and he was referred to PeopleFund by a large bank after being declined for a business loan. PeopleFund was able to extend a $100,000 loan to Dr. Hammons for his now thriving practice. Since that time he’s hired five additional employees and his practice serves 400-500 people a month.

PeopleFund empowers returning veterans like Dr. Hammons empower returning veterans to create stable careers for themselves and others. Dr. Hammons says helping those in need has become one of the most rewarding parts of his profession. Through his military service he learned to relate to a diverse population. About his military experience he says, “It is amazing just how many people served or have family who are serving.  I consider it a privilege to be able to serve these people in my practice.” To returning veterans looking to begin a business he advises to get the education needed to run the business.  “For me being the doctor is the easy part, it is making smart business decisions that will keep you successful.”

Article by Kat Pratt

On April 18, 2013 PeopleFund had its annual PeopleTalk event featuring Alamo Drafthouse’s founder & CEO Tim League. It was a luncheon event at the Alamo Cinema Village with food from the Alamo kitchens. The event began with a presentation by Texas Certified Development Company who generously donated a technology lab to PeopleFund. TxCDC’s President Suzanna Caballero emphasized the importance of helping clients become successful business owners. “PeopleFund embraces the concept of client training and education to help business owners succeed,” she said. “With this $25,000 grant, we are investing in PeopleFund’s ability to better train and support Austin-area businesses.”

Tim League’s PeopleTalk presentation was about his entrepreneurial journey and how he and his wife Karrie League first got into the movie business as two 23 year olds in Bakersfield, California. They were young and inexperienced, but the lessons they learned from their missteps helped them to create Austin’s beloved movie theater.

Tim discussed the risks he, his wife, and their families took: “You have to be comfortable with the worst case scenario, and if you’re ok with that entrepreneurship is for you!” Not many of their initial ideas were great or successful, but Tim said: “You can learn a lot by repeatedly falling on your face.” It was through these early missteps that the Leagues learned about the movie business, and they also found that it was their true passion to create not just a movie theater but a cinephile community.

In beginning the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin the Leagues had a vision of what a movie theater could be. No ads before shows, no cell phones disrupting the movies, no loud children in movies, and various other hallmarks of the Alamo experience came from personal irks of the Leagues. These ideas set the Alamo Drafthouse apart from other movie theaters. The Alamo experience is centered around film and the appreciation of film. The excellent customer service and professionalism of the staff is key to creating the Alamo experience and is a significant to how they measure the success of their business.

The current challenges facing the Alamo Drafthouse are ones having to do with their expanding into cities outside Texas. Just as the cinematic culture will vary from place to place, there are great challenges to keeping true to the Alamo business model while adapting to existing cinephile cultures. The audience question and answer session with Tim League lasted 45 minutes as participants delved deeper into topics Tim discussed in his PeopleTalk presentation.

Special thanks to Tim League and the staff at Alamo Drafthouse, attendees, and the Texas Certified Development Corporation

Austin, Texas – Texas Certified Development Company (TxCDC), a proven leader in Small Business Administration 504 lending and New Markets Tax Credits allocations, awarded a grant to PeopleFund to create the TxCDC Technology Lab, a designated space designed to assist individuals who are interested in starting or growing a small business. PeopleFund will use these funds to purchase much-needed hardware and software to improve community workshops and business education curriculums. Not only will the TxCDCTechnology Lab further the hands-on training offered to PeopleFund clients and the central Texas community, but it will also enable the organization to offer online courses and materials to rural populations across the state.

As a veteran of the banking industry, TxCDC’s President Suzanna Caballero understands the importance of helping clients become successful business owners. “PeopleFund embraces the concept of client training and education to help business owners succeed,” she said. “With this $25,000 grant, we are investing in PeopleFund’s ability to better train and support Austin-area businesses.”

“We are so grateful to TxCDC for their support in helping build our clients’ business skills,” Gary Lindner, PeopleFund president and CEO, said. “As a non-profit, we rely on strategic partnerships and support. To have Suzanna and her organization step forward is a tribute to her leadership and vision about what it takes to grow Texas businesses and the economy.”

For more information about TxCDC and loan opportunities, visit: http://txcdc.com. To learn more about PeopleFund loan and business assistance and education, visit: http://peoplefund.org/get-involved/events-calendar/.

Texas Certified Development Company

Texas Certified Development Company (TxCDC) grew out of one man’s passion to help business owners realize their dreams, and in the process help create jobs and stimulate the economy. At TxCDC, we’re all about creating jobs. We know one of the greatest challenges faced by small businesses is access to capital. That’s why we make it easy for eligible small business owners to apply for loans to use for fixed assets, such as building acquisition, construction or expansion, land purchases and site improvements, or major machinery or equipment to grow their business. Providing small businesses with capital leads to job creation, business growth and increased tax revenues for the community. For more information, please visit txcdc.com.

Article by Patricia Colomo Baray

PeopleFund program and services

I have always been very interested in learning how a nonprofit organization works, so what better way to learn this than volunteering for PeopleFund. PeopleFund is a nonprofit organization that creates an economic opportunity for entrepreneurs in the community to achieve their dreams of building their own businesses.

Before I started as a development and finance intern at PeopleFund, I volunteered for other organizations, but I never had the opportunity to see firsthand how a day in the office of a nonprofit goes. PeopleFund’s office has the best working environment and it’s the best suitable place to learn and work. Since the first day, everyone has been really friendly and helpful and they have made me feel at home and part of the team.

So far it has been a great learning experience and I have to say that PeopleFund has exceeded all my expectations.  Most of our clients are minorities, women, veterans, startups, other nonprofit organizations, etc., so one of PeopleFund’s main concerns is being able to reach them and let them know we are here to assist them.  In the short time I have been here, some of the things I have done are translating PeopleFund’s mission statement into Spanish and helping social media writing tweets in Spanish for PeopleFund’s twitter account (By the way follow us @PeopleFundATX). It’s very important for the organization to let people out there in the community know we can support them in building their own businesses. Moreover, PeopleFund has done a great job in achieving this. Thanks to PeopleFund, over 2,800 jobs were created and more than $29 million have been invested in Texas.

What makes peoplefund an excellent nonprofit organization is that we not only give loans to our clients, but we also support them with business assistance and education. We do this in order to help them to be independent, achieve financial stability, and to have healthy, strong, and competitive businesses. PeopleFund strongly believes in improving the community and making it a better place to live through the work of our clients.

In these difficult economic times, PeopleFund is a light of hope to many people who just want to achieve their dreams. I’m really grateful to have the opportunity to be considered part of this great nonprofit organization and to be able to do my part and give back to the community.

Artículo por Patricia Colomo Baray

Programa y servicios de PeopleFund

Siempre he estado interesada en aprender como una organización sin fines de lucro trabaja y que mejor manera de poder hacerlo que ayudar en PeopleFund.  PeopleFund es una organización que crea nuevas oportunidades para emprendedores en la comunidad para que puedan alcanzar sus sueños de construir y tener sus propios negocios.

Antes de ser interna de desarollo y finanzas en PeopleFund, fui voluntaria en otras organizaciones pero nunca tuve la oportunidad de ver como es el dia a dia en la oficina de una organización sin fines de lucro. PeopleFund tiene el mejor ambiente de trabajo y es el lugar adecuado para aprender y trabajar. Desde el primer día, todos en la oficina han sido muy amables conmigo y me han hecho sentir parte del equipo rápidamente .

Hasta ahora ha sido una muy grata experiencia de aprendizaje y tengo que decir que PeopleFund ha superado todas mis expectativas. La mayoría de nuestros clientes pertenecen a minorías, son mujeres, veteranos, nuevas empresas u otras organizaciones sin fines de lucro. Asi que uno de los principales objetivos de la organización es poder tenderles la mano y que sepan que estamos aquí para poder asistirlos. En el corto tiempo que he estado aquí, traducí la misión de la organización al español  y he ayudado a escribir tweets en español para la cuenta de PeopleFund en twitter (Por cierto! siguenos @PeopleFundATX). Es muy importante para la organización expander sus horizontes y que más personas en la comunidad sepan que podemos ayudarles. PeopleFund ha hecho un grán trabajo logrando este objetivo ya que gracias a PeopleFund, mas de 2,800 trabajos han sido creados y más de $29 millones han sido invertidos en Texas.

Lo que hace a PeopleFund una excelente organización no es solo que ofrecemos prestámos a los clientes, sino que también se les ofrece tutorías y educación en diferentes áreas de administración de negocios. La meta es que nuestros clientes se vuelvan independientes, logren estabilidad financiera y que tengan empresas fuertes y competitivas. En PeopleFund creemos que ayudamos a mejorar la comunidad y hacer de ella un mejor lugar para vivir a tráves del trabajo de nuestros clientes.

En estos difíciles tiempos, PeopleFund es una luz de esperanza para muchas personas que solo quieren alcanzar sus sueños. Estoy muy contenta y agradecida de poder tener la oportunidad de ser considerada parte de esta grán organización y de poder poner mi pequeño granito de arena para la comunidad.

Article by Kat Pratt

Blooming Pregnancy Spa & Imaging Center is a full service spa that provides a wide variety of caring services to women through the various stages of becoming mothers. Patti Justice opened her business in 2010 after she’d already been a massage therapist for years and now has eleven employees. She discovered in herself a calling to work with pregnant women and a real need in the community for massage specialists that serve pregnant women. Opening Blooming Pregnancy Spa & Imaging Center developed as a  response to a large market of women needing specialized care.

Blooming Pregnancy Spa & Imaging Center provides a wide variety of treatments & services. Though most of their clients are pregnant women, the spa also provides services for women who are trying to conceive as well as new mothers. Massage, skin treatments, pedicures, ultrasound imaging in 3D and 4D, as well as a variety of body treatments provide relief and pampering for women throughout the exciting and sometimes stressful process of becoming mothers.

Specialized techniques of various treatments are different because of the needs of the mother and the baby will vary through different stages of pregnancy. They have a generous reward program which keep services affordable and encourages return clients. This creates accessibility to services and reduces barriers to access the many health benefits of massage and body treatments. This in turn helps the wellbeing of expectant and recent mothers.

Patti Justice came to PeopleFund seeking capital to expand services and products available to her clients. With her business loan she was able to purchase inventory & provide a greater variety of services. PeopleFund works with small businesses that have an impact on the community. We are happy to be able to feature Blooming Pregnancy Spa as our Featured Client for April.

Visit Blooming Preganancy Spa & Imaging’s website and find out about spring specials, and new services: http://bloomingpregnancyspa.com/.

Are you a woman veteran interested in growing your business? Wondering what WVEC can do for your entrepreneurial dreams? Develop and polish your own two minute business pitch with professional business coaches. Find out about competing with your business pitch nationally to win big prizes!

RSVP today to find out about exciting new resources available to women veterans from WVEC. This is a great opportunity for women veterans and woman military spouses and partners to network, pitch ideas, and gain feedback from experienced voices in the business community.

The Pitch Party is free and open to woman veteran business owners, woman veteran entrepreneurs, and those interested entrepreneurship opportunities for veterans & military spouses through WVEC. Learn more at www.countmein.org/WVEC.

• Where: 2921 E. 17^th St, Austin, TX 78702
• When: Thursday, April 18, 2013  5 PM to 7 PM
• Woman Veterans & military spouses RSVP at: shay@peoplefund.org
• More information at: http://countmein.org/event/wvec/home

Article by: Kat Pratt

Rosewood Community Market’s grand opening was Wednesday March 6, and PeopleFund was there to celebrate! The market is located at the corner of Chicon and Rosewood in the heart of Austin’s Eastside. The day began with breakfast specials and throughout the day Rosewood Community Market treated its customers with free coffee, cupcakes, coupons, giveaways, door prizes, and a raffle. The ribbon cutting ceremony was attended by Council Member Mike Martinez and the exciting day wound down with cold beers and happy hour specials.

Rosewood Community Market at 1819 Rosewood provides a variety of foods including fresh fruit, vegetables, and meats to the Eastside community. It’s open seven days a week from 7am to 8pm on weekdays, Saturday from 9am to 6pm and Sunday from 10am to 5pm. Allen Rogers opened the store to save the community from frequent trips to bigger grocery stores when they may just need a few things.

As a resident of the Eastside, Allen Rogers was keenly aware of the unavailability of fresh foods in his neighborhood. Since the soft opening in January he’s had a very positive reaction from the community. It’s become an oasis in the East Austin food desert. The USDA defines a food desert as a region lacking access to fresh, healthy, affordable food options.

Allen’s focus on building relationships with local produce growers such as Johnsons’ Backyard Garden and beef from Bastrop Cattle Co. brings high end fare to the Eastside. But also sourcing goods from larger distributors ensures a variety of prices to meet the needs of various economic groups in East Austin’s diverse community. As a former employee of PeopleFund Allen made connections with the Sustainable Food Center who has helped him connect with local food suppliers.

Katherine (Kat) Pratt is an AmeriCorps VISTA who joined PeopleFund in February of 2013. VISTA is a national service program focusing on fighting poverty through creating capacity in community organizations and nonprofits assisting vulnerable populations. As an outreach coordinator Kat will help the Development team with social media engagement, event planning, donor relations, and grant writing. Prior to joining the PeopleFund team she served as a Development Intern with the American Red Cross of Central Texas. Kat worked in libraries and bookstores in Texas eventually leaving the book trade to finish her degree. In 2012 she graduated from Texas State University earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Anthropology with a focus on archaeology. Growing up in a military family Kat moved frequently, but eventually found her way to Texas and Austin has been her home for eight years.

Samantha (Sam) Robinson is an AmeriCorps Volunteer In Service To America (VISTA) who joined PeopleFund in February of 2013. VISTA is a national service program focusing on eliminating poverty by creating programs and building capacity in community organizations and nonprofits that serves the underserved populations in local communities. As a Community Outreach coordinator Sam will help the development team with marketing, social media engagement, event planning, capacity building, donor relations, and grant writing. Prior to joining the PeopleFund team she served as a Freelance Small Business Consultant for budding entrepreneurs. Sam worked in various areas of corporate administration that equipped her with the skills needed to contribute to the PeopleFund organization. In 2011, she graduated earning a B.S. in Business Systems Analysis along with an A.A. in Small Business Development from Tulane University of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Samantha is originally from Louisiana and a native of the suburban New Orleans area, after graduation she desired to expand her personal and professional network and by 2012, she made Houston, Texas her new home.

Seven years ago in his hometown of Dallas, Braylon Lester founded Xtra 21 Express Trucking LLC, a full service flatbed transportation company known for its innovation, reliability, and strong commitment to quality.  Armed with 15 years of experience in trucking and a loan from PeopleFund to purchase equipment, Braylon quickly grew Xtra 21 Express Trucking into a premier leader in its industry. This year, it was named one of the 100 fastest-growing inner city firms in the United States and will be featured in Fortune Magazine this spring.  In addition, Braylon was recently a Quest for Success Awardee from the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce.

PeopleFund provided Braylon with an SBA Microloan of $25,000, and recently PeopleFund re-invested to fuel more Xtra21 growth with an SBA Community Advantage loan of an additional $100,000. Braylon was also featured as one of our speakers at the PeopleSpark Community Kickoff Event.

Under the leadership of Braylon, the company has maintained a steadfast commitment to community service and charitable organizations across the greater Fort Worth/Dallas. For more than five years, the company has sponsored “Team Courtney” in the National Down Syndrome Society Buddy Walk in honor of Braylon’s brother.

For more information on Xtra 21 Express Trucking LLC, please visit their website at http://www.xtra21express.com.