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Detroit Regional Chamber > Michigan Strategic Fund Approves $100M Grant Program for Small Businesses’ COVID-19 Recovery

Michigan Strategic Fund Approves $100M Grant Program for Small Businesses’ COVID-19 Recovery

July 7, 2020
The Michigan Strategic Fund approved a $100 million grant program to support small businesses working on reopening having experienced loss of income due to COVID-19. These funds were allocated by the State of Michigan from federal CARES Act funding.

The Michigan Small Business Restart Grant Program will work with statewide economic development organizations (EDOs) to award grants to qualifying small businesses in need of assistance with payroll, rent, mortgage payments, as well as utilities and other expenses.

Participating EDOs in Southeast Michigan include:

  • Flint & Genesee Chamber – $8,045,455
  • Ann Arbor Spark – $8,545,455
  • Oakland County – $11,045,455
  • Macomb County – $7,545,455
  • Detroit Economic Growth Corporation – $15,545,450

Program applications open Wednesday, July 15 at michiganbusiness.org/restart and close Wednesday, Aug. 5.

Grant criteria include:

  • 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.
  • Has not received a grant through the Michigan Strategic Fund’s Michigan Small Business Relief Program. Businesses who have received support through other COVID-19 relief programs, including the Michigan Small Business Relief Program loans, are eligible to apply for Restart grants.

The Michigan Small Business Restart Grant Program is a continuation of the Michigan Small Business Relief Program implemented in March, which awarded $10 million in grants and $4.35 million in loans from the Michigan Strategic Fund. The new grant program includes provisions that at least 30% of funding be awarded to women-owned, minority-owned, and veteran-owned eligible businesses.

The Michigan Strategic Fund also approved $15 million for the Michigan Agricultural Safety Program to support COVID-19 safety and monitoring strategies to protect the state’s agricultural employees as well as Michigan’s food production industry as a whole.

More Resources:

Find this and other small business resources to navigate the impacts of COVID-19 at the Detroit Regional Chamber’s Business Restart Center.