By Ray King
In 2009, the Pine Bluff City Council adopted a resolution approving a memorandum of understanding between the city and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff Economic Research and Development Center to promote small business development.
On Monday night, the council voted to update that agreement.
Councilmember Glen Brown Sr., sponsored the resolution and talked to Deltaplex News about it.
While originally the program was only for small businesses in the downtown and University Park area, the new memorandum makes it available to small businesses city-wide but still gives preference to downtown and University Park.
Preference is also given to businesses at the UAPB Business Incubator and in the City of Pine Bluff’s Model Block program.
According to the memorandum, a fund was set up at Relyance Bank to make loans to small businesses and the Southeast Economic Development District was designated as the third-party administrator of the loan fund program.
