In 1992 the most popular movies were “Aladdin,” “Sister Act,” and “The Bodyguard.” The Washington Redskins won the Super Bowl and Bill Clinton won the presidency. The Chicago Bulls won the NBA championship and baseball was introduced to the Olympics which were held in Barcelona, Spain.
And a small group of economic development-minded people in rural Nevada, realizing the need for business capital, started the fledgling community lending organization, Rural Nevada Development Corporation. Based in Ely, Nevada, the community lender started small, with a matching grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They began by establishing housing programs that assisted with weatherization, rehabilitation, and down payment assistance. Today, in addition to the valuable housing programs that have contributed over $65 million to rural Nevada, RNDC boasts a lending portfolio of over $40 million and throughout the past 30 years has contributed over $111 million in lending capital and business activity to rural Nevada businesses.
This week the Board of Directors of the RNDC joined their efficient, productive eight-member staff to celebrate the agency’s 30th anniversary. The current CEO Mary Kerner joined the RNDC staff in 2002 as a lending specialist and was promoted to CEO in 2016. She reminded the attendees at the banquet Monday night, of the important things that were happening in the world during 1992 when the organization was created. She also recognized the board members and staff for their excellence before introducing Sarah Adler, whom she referred to as a “founding mother” of RNDC.
Adler spoke about the process it took during the early 1990s to navigate the political landscape that ran economic development primarily through a regional approach that included communities from Salt Lake City, Utah to Seattle, Washington. With the help of then Lt. Governor Bob Cashell, whose office was responsible for economic development, Adler and Karen Rajala went to Utah for four weeks of community lending training. Then they made a run at the USDA for grant funding to start a community lending organization that eventually became RNDC.
Over the years RNDC has continued to apply for funding through several federal agencies and match that with funding from generous community partners for the housing programs including the Nevada Housing Division, Mt. Wheeler Power, Lincoln County Power District, Bonneville Power, Southwest Gas, Wells Rural Electric, the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (CDBG), and the USDA-Rural Development (HPG). Partners have come on board to assist with the RNDC business programs including the USDA Rural Development, Economic Development Administration, Small Business Administration, Nevada Gold Mines, Charles Schwab, Nevada State Bank, Wells Fargo, The First National Bank of Ely, Nevada Bank & Trust, Meadows Bank, GOED, and the Small Business Development Center at the University of Nevada.
Reports at the annual meeting show that RNDC has had a huge impact State of Nevada with over $177 million in total economic funding since its inception. RNDC focuses on serving the rural Nevada counties, and since 1992 has contributed $7,514,304 to Churchill County residents and businesses.
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