The City of Seattle has been awarded $20 million through the Department of Energy’s Retrofit Ramp-Up Initiative. The City will use the money to fund the Seattle Neighborhood Weatherize Every Building (WEB) Initiative to Power Change plan. As part of this program, the City is adding over $200,000 in equity to its newly-created small business loan fund, the Grow Seattle-King County Fund. With the State of Washington’s recent $500,000 infusion, over $700,000 is now available to capitalize energy efficiency financing for small businesses in Seattle and King County.
These dollars add to the $1 million initial investment into the Grow Seattle-King County Fund made by the Seattle Foundation in July 2009. Still in its infancy, the Fund has made loans to three businesses to finance over $9 million in project costs, leveraging the initial investment 9:1 and retaining or creating 31 jobs.