Small businesses and nonprofit organizations in Flint and Genesee County may apply for grants up to $20,000 from the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) to assist with their recovery from the ongoing economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Known as the Michigan Small Business Restart Program, the Flint & Genesee Chamber of Commerce and its partners in the I-69 Thumb Region has been allocated about $8 million from the MEDC to support eligible businesses in Shiawassee, Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron and Tuscola counties.
The online application will be live tomorrow, July 15, at michiganbusiness.org/restart and open until Aug. 5. Funds can be used as working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses or other similar expenses.
To qualify for grant support, organizations must meet the following criteria:
- Businesses must have 50 or fewer total employees
- Is a business or nonprofit that can demonstrate it is affected by the COVID-19 emergency
- Needs working capital to support eligible expenses
- Demonstrates an income loss as result of the COVID-19 emergency
In addition, 30 percent of the available funds must be provided to women-owned, minority-owned or veteran-owned eligible businesses.
The applications must be submitted through the MEDC’s online portal (michiganbusiness.org/restart) but the selection process will be managed locally by a review committee comprised of business and community leaders.
“As Michigan works through its restart plans, many of our small businesses are still struggling to cope with the economic fallout,” said Flint & Genesee Chamber CEO Tim Herman. “This is a tremendous opportunity to provide some additional relief for the small businesses and nonprofits that need it.”
The Chamber will host a webinar about the Michigan Small Business Restart Program tomorrow, July 15, at 11 a.m. for prospective applicants. The presenters will be Tyler Rossmaessler, the Chamber’s director of economic development, and Ryan Hundt, regional director for growth and development at MEDC. The webinar will be accessible on Facebook Live and YouTube Live.
The Michigan Small Business Restart Program was established with $100 million in federal CARES Act money allocated to the State of Michigan. The MEDC’s Michigan Strategic Fund authorized distribution of the funding across 15 local or nonprofit economic development organizations (EDOs) covering all 83 counties in the state. The Flint & Genesee Chamber is administrative lead for the seven-county I-69 Thumb Region (Region 6).
For questions or more information, please contact the Flint & Genesee Chamber’s Economic Development Group at .