GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The Right Place, Inc., the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and various regional partners, announced Tuesday that 1,060 small businesses have been awarded over $9 million in grant funding to restart amid COVID-19.
The grants were awarded to eligible West Michigan small businesses who have been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Funding for the grants was provided by MEDC via the Michigan Small Business Restart Program. The grants are designed to provide small businesses with payroll expenses support, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses, or other similar expenses. In order to qualify, businesses and nonprofits must have had less than 50 employees and been able to demonstrate need. Additionally, 30% of the funding was required to be awarded to women, veteran or minority-owned businesses, The Right Place said in the release.
“The Right Place and our regional partners have made over $9 million in grants to critically impacted small businesses in West Michigan,” said Birgit Klohs, President and CEO, The Right Place, Inc. “These funds are offering a financial lifeline to our small companies and we are pleased that over half of these grants were awarded to women, minority and veteran-owed small businesses.”
Demand for funding far exceeded available funds, with 2,995 applicants requesting over $50 million in support throughout the region, The Right Place said.
In Kent County, 73% of the funding was awarded to women, veteran and minority-owned businesses. Throughout the 11-county region, 66% of the funding was awarded to women, veteran or minority-owned businesses. A county-specific breakdown of funding requested and awarded is available here.
“Receiving this grant has been such a blessing for The Vegan Cheesecake Company,” said Jerica Buchanan, founder of the Vegan Cheesecake Company. “Our business growth plans were put on hold due to COVID-19, and I was afraid my hard work in starting this company would all have been in vain. Thanks to this grant I will be able to pay off debt, restructure our website for ecommerce, hire a team, purchase equipment, and get the business up and running again.”
The Right Place and its regional partners were responsible for distributing funds to support qualifying small businesses within 11 of the 13 counties of West Michigan's Prosperity Region #4: Barry, Ionia, Kent, Lake, Mason, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Newaygo, Oceana and Osceola Counties. Grant funds for Ottawa and Allegan Counties were administered separately by Lakeshore Advantage.
“This grant came at the perfect moment for us,” said Danielle Camp of Just Like Home Adult Center. “We are a rather new business, having been opened for only a year and a half. Our business is extremely important to our community, as we are the only adult day center in this county. This grant enabled us the ability to purchase the necessary PPE without concern that we wouldn’t be able to pay our rent because of it. It allowed us to bring back our employees when we opened up full time and with our full client load and have the ability to pay them. Mainly, it gave us a little bit of peace of mind in a stressful, scary and challenging period of time. And for that, we are truly grateful.”
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