Rockland and Taunton, Mass. – November 13, 2015 – Rockland Trust Company has received the National Association of Development Companies (NADCO) Diamond Award for being an "Extraordinary Lender Partner in Economic Development" with the South Eastern Economic Development (SEED) Corporation. The award honors a bank lender whose partnership with a local community development company extends beyond their partnership in the SBA 504 loan program. The award was presented on Thursday, November 12 at NADCO’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans.
Rockland Trust was selected by NADCO from a national pool of bank candidates not only for its leadership in partnering with SEED under the SBA 504 Loan Program but more importantly for providing grants to SEED that support its Small Business Technical Assistance Program.
“We are very pleased that Rockland Trust Company was selected by our nationwide trade organization for partnering with SEED, and for its outstanding support of small businesses by making low interest loans in economically distressed communities in our region,” stated Maria Gooch-Smith, SEED’s executive director.
“We are honored to be recognized for our support of SEED and their programs to assist the small business community,” said Gerard Nadeau, Executive Vice President and Director of Commercial Banking at Rockland Trust. “SEED’s Small Business Technical Assistance Program and their participation in the SBA 504 program has helped us meet our small business customers’ needs, as well as contributed to strengthening our local communities.”
Rockland Trust has provided SEED with a total of $350,000 in grants which have supported SEED's entrepreneurial workshops and individual business assistance in economically distressed communities, and have served as leverage for federal grants from the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund (CDFI) under the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
In the last three years, SEED has obtained nearly $2 million in grants from the CDFI which have been used to make small loans to start-up businesses and those unable to obtain the bank financing they need to grow and create jobs in communities with high unemployment rates.
About SEED
SEED is a non-profit corporation certified in late 1982 by the SBA. SEED runs three loan programs and a Business Assistance Program. The loan programs provide financing from $1,000 to $5.5 million to small businesses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. For more information about SEED’s programs call 508-822-1020 or visit www.seedcorp.com.
About Rockland Trust
Independent Bank Corp. has approximately $7.1 billion in assets and is the holding company for Rockland Trust Company, a full-service commercial bank headquartered in Massachusetts. Rockland Trust offers a wide range of banking, investment, and insurance services to businesses and individuals through retail branches, commercial lending offices,investment management offices, and residential lending centers in Eastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well as through telephone banking, mobile banking, and the Internet. Rockland Trust is an FDIC member and an Equal Housing Lender. To learn why Rockland Trust is the bank “Where Each Relationship Matters®,” please visit https://www.rocklandtrust.com.
