The Small Business Lending Fund’s announcement this week that $6 million will be made available through CCB Community Bank for local business loans is good news for the local economy, bank President Wem Mellown said.

“This is not TARP, it’s money that will be repaid,” Mel-lown said. “The goal of the federal program is to get the economy kicked off with lending.”

Mellown said the bank can loan the money to farmers or to businesses with less than $10 million in net income.

“So a small business, or a doctor going into a new office would qualify,” Mellown said.

CCB had to apply for the loan through the Federal Reserve Bank.

“It’s our understanding that 60 percent of the banks that applied didn’t receive funding,” he said.

Mellown said there are no stipulations on loaning the money other than credit worthiness.

The announcement Wednesday included a total of $13.5 million for Alabama. Anniston’s Southern States Bancshares, got $7.5 million.

So far, five Alabama community banks received $88.7 million in small business lending capital, the Treasury Department said.

“Billions of dollars in SBLF funds are now being put to use in communities all across the nation, spurring small business growth and job creation,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Neal Wolin.

Anyone interested in business loans should contact one of the bank’s commercial lenders, he said.