NetWork Kansas announced today that it has awarded $457,250 in tax credits to nine Kansas Entrepreneurship (E-) Communities, enabling them to raise more than $600,000 to replenish local loan funds to be utilized by local businesses in their community.

The selected communities are: Chautauqua County, Coffeyville, Douglas County, Hoisington, Leavenworth, McPherson County, Norton County, Osage County, Phillips County. The awarded communities have participated in NetWork Kansas' innovative E-Community Partnership for at least one year and have actively used their previously awarded funds to loan to local businesses.

"The E-Community program works. Three of Douglas County's small communities are working together like never before--Baldwin City, Eudora, and Lecompton--celebrating each other's success, and finding strategies to build each other up. Community leaders are now enthusiastically investing in and promoting the E-Community to other business-minded folks throughout the county," said Nancy Thellman, Douglas County Commissioner and Douglas County E-Community Leadership Team Member.

All of the communities selected to receive additional funding submitted partnership proposals in August as part of a competitive 2012 E-Community selection process before being recommended to the NetWork Kansas board of directors for approval by Director of E-Communities Erik Pedersen.

"It is very exciting that nine of our existing Entrepreneurship Communities were selected to receive additional tax credits," said Pedersen. "Loan activity is certainly an important factor that we look for. However, it's the other initiatives these communities are working on that truly affect the entrepreneurial environment in a positive manner."

Eight new E-Communities were also selected this fall. Combined, the new and existing E-Communities will raise more than $1.5 million in seed funding for Kansas entrepreneurs this year through the Kansas Entrepreneurship Tax Credit.

"Norton County is fortunate to participate in a program like the Network Kansas E-Community Partnership. This program has been so successful because of its structure. Community leaders come together and develop a loan program and the allocated tax credits sold by Norton County make it possible to give businesses access to capital. Our Norton County E-Community has loaned $135,000 and those funds leveraged $1.6 million in additional business investment. This program is a great economic development tool," said Scott Sproul, Norton City/County Economic Development Director.

The E-Community Partnership, now in its sixth year, has grown from six communities in 2007 to thirty-eight in 2012. The NetWork Kansas E-Community partnership allows a town, a cluster of towns, or an entire county to raise seed money for local entrepreneurs through donations from individuals or businesses within the community. During the first five years of the E-Community partnership, more than $6 million have been raised. These funds are estimated to generate more than $34.1 million of investment in rural businesses across Kansas.

"Being designated as an Entrepreneurship Community has provided startup funding for businesses that we may not have seen open their doors without it. This has been a great asset in providing an opportunity to work with other business resources and the area banks," said Jennifer Burch, Executive Director of the McPherson Chamber of Commerce.

Since 2007, NetWork Kansas E-Communities have loaned or granted $2.1 million to businesses in their communities through this funding source and leveraged an additional $11.9 million dollars, for a total investment of $14 million dollars into businesses in E-Communities. This funding has spurred the creation or retention of nearly 551 jobs in these same communities and has immeasurable positive effects on the entrepreneurial ecosystems of these participating areas.

The following communities were selected as new NetWork Kansas E-Communities in 2012 and awarded an additional $675,000 in tax credits: Ellis County, Humboldt, Liberal, Montgomery County, Reno County, Sherman County, Wabaunsee County, and Wichita County.

To learn more about the E-Community Partnership, Contact:

Erik Pedersen, Director of E-Communities

316.978.7310

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