Job creation program awards first loan

HAMMOND | A downtown business is the first to receive a loan through the Job Creation Business Expansion program, which uses U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development dollars to help local businesses.

KHA Online-MSDS, 6920 Hohman Ave., borrowed $29,630 through the forgivable loan program, with approval from the Hammond Redevelopment Commission.

The money will go toward hiring a new employee and developing an iPhone app for the company's material safety data sheets (MSDS) documentation, Hammond Executive Director of Planning and Development Phil Taillon said.

The business expansion program is designed to offer financial help to businesses that can't receive assistance through a traditional financial source, he said.

"They've had to apply and get rejected for a traditional loan," Taillon said.

Interested companies put together a business plan. A financial consultant reviews the plan and does a risk assessment to determine whether to grant the loan, Taillon said.

"For every $30,000 they borrow, they have to hire a new employee, and that person has to live in Hammond," he said. "This program was set up by us as one of the ways of creating new jobs in Hammond."

KHA Online-MSDS manages material safety data sheets for businesses and handles hazardous materials inventory and environmental management for customers, according to Alfonso Lerma, director of corporate outreach with the company.

"We maintain them in software that allows them to be available to workers, satisfying OSHA regulations that applies to 90 percent of all workplaces," he said.

The money through the expansion program allows KHA Online-MSDS to further its reach via mobile device applications. It helps the company "fast-forward" things, such as new technology developments, he said.

The 25-year-old company has been in Hammond most of that time, Lerma said.

"Even though we're working here in Hammond, we do get around and we have clients all over the place," he said.