Kansas City's KC Storefront Initiative aims to make loans to small businesses—particularly those run by women and minorities—that haven't been able to get banks to extend credit to them. Since the initiative's launch in mid-2012, more than 140 entrepreneurs have received a total of $1.2 million in financing. The loans are made by Justine Petersen, a St. Louis-based microlender that Kansas City officials recruited to run the program. But the city has played an active role in facilitating the loans. Kansas City has donated office space to Justine Petersen and contributed $110,000 to the microlender's loan-loss reserve fund. The loans range from $1,000 to $50,000—the average loan amount in 2013 was $12,000—and interest rates are roughly 8.25% to 12%. The default rate has been just 2% so far.