MEMBER PROFILE

Cisela Edstrom Wildes

I was born and raised in Sweden, but have several old connections with Ithaca. It was exciting to open an account with Alternatives when my late Swedish husband, Dag, and I moved to help start Ecovillage in Ithaca back in 1993, as it was exactly the kind of bank we wanted to support and be part of. We returned to Sweden in 1997, but I kept my account with Alternatives. I have found it easy to have this account even though I lived in Sweden and now live in the Northwest - and it's my intention to continue to stay with Alternatives in the future when I plan to move out of the country again.

The Tompkins County Rural Small Business Loan Program assists small business owners located in the rural areas of the County. The program is a partnership with Alternatives Federal Credit Union, which provides training, technical assistance, and loan underwriting. Tompkins County funds the loan component of the program, providing low-interest loans to qualified applicants ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 for equipment and working capital to start up or enhance business operations in rural areas.

This program is funded by repaid U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Small Cities Community Development Block Grants funds previously awarded to Tompkins County for economic development loans.

For more information about this program, contact the Tompkins County Planning Department at (607) 274-5560 or Bob Anderson at (607) 216-3446.