RMDZ and Business Resources

  1. Financial Resources
  2. Business Development
  3. Energy Assessment and Rebates
  4. Business Component Resources

Loans

Recycling Market Development Zone (RMDZ) 

Program offered by CalRecycle encourages qualifying manufacturers to utilize recycled feedstock or incorporate waste reducing practices in RMDZ areas.  Low-interest loans, permitting assistance and business development assistance are available.

504 Certified Development Company (CDC) Program 

Provides growing businesses with long-term, fixed-rate financing for major fixed assets, such as land and buildings. A Certified Development Company is a nonprofit corporation set up to contribute to the economic development of its community. CDCs work with the SBA and private-sector lenders to provide financing to small businesses. Each CDC covers a specific geographic area. (Find the CDC in your area.)  

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Funding Programs 

Offers to create and save rural jobs and improve the economic and environmental climate of rural communities. The program guarantees a maximum of 90% on loans up to $2 million, a maximum of 80% on loans of $2-5 million and a maximum of 60% on loans above $10-25 million.

MicroLoans

MicroLoan Program 

Provides very small loans to start-up, newly established, or growing small business concerns. Under this program, SBA makes funds available to nonprofit community based lenders (intermediaries) which, in turn, make loans to eligible borrowers in amounts up to a maximum of $35,000. The average loan size is about $10,500. Applications are submitted to the local intermediary and all credit decisions are made on the local level.

Bond Financing

Manufacturing Equipment (PDF)  

California Communities provide eligible businesses (borrowers) located within California with tax exempt financial assistance.  This will enable borrowers to finance between $500,000 and $10 million of equipment for manufacturing, processing solid waste or recycling solid waste at a lower interest rate than generally available through commercial financing.  Contact: James Hamill, (925) 933-9229 x216

Small Business Pollution Control Tax-Exempt Bond Financing Program 

Offered through the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to California businesses for the acquisition, construction, or installation of qualified pollution control, waste disposal, and resource recovery facilities. Loan amounts start at $1 million and increase depending on size of business.

Industrial Development Bond (IDB)  

Tax-exempt financing is beneficial because companies can borrow at a substantially reduced interest rate. IDBs are available to manufacturers for the purchase of land, buildings, and capital equipment through below-market financing, at tax-exempt interest rates.   

California Statewide Communities Development Authority (CSCDA) 

This program offers companies seeking cost-effective, tax-exempt capital to finance the acquisition and rehabilitation, construction of, or the acquisition of new equipment for solid waste and exempt facilities.

Grants

U.S. Department of Energy  

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) are U.S. Government programs in which federal agencies with large research and development (R&D) budgets set aside a small fraction of their funding for competitions among small businesses only.  Small businesses that win awards in these programs keep the rights to any technology developed and are encouraged to commercialize the technology. 

Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)  

EERE accelerates the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of technologies and solutions to equitably transition America to net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economywide by no later than 2050. It invests in clean energy technologies that are ready to be demonstrated and deployed, as well as R&D activities that advance early-stage technologies with a clear path to deployment.

Loan Guarantees

Small Business Administration (SBA) 7(a) Loan Guarantee Program 

One of SBA's most used type loan of SBA's business loan programs. It provides loans to small businesses unable to secure financing on reasonable terms through normal lending channels. The program operates through participating private-sector lenders.

Forgivable Loans

California Recycle Underutilized Sites (Cal ReUSE) Program (PDF) 

Implemented by the California Pollution Control Financing Authority to assist with the reuse and redevelopment of underutilized properties with real or perceived contamination issues (brownfields).  Cal ReUSE provides forgivable loans to fund site assessment and characterization, technical assistance and remedial action plans and site access.

Guide(s)