今天，皇冠博彩公司., in collaboration with the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and regional partners, 宣布我,060 small businesses have been awarded over $9M in grant funding. These grants were awarded to eligible West Michigan small businesses who have been negatively impacted by the 新型冠状病毒肺炎 pandemic.

Funding for the grants was provided by MEDC via the Michigan Small Business Restart Program. These grants are designed to provide eligible small businesses with working capital to support payroll expenses, 租金, 抵押贷款, 公用事业费用, or other similar expenses that occur in the ordinary course of business. 为了保证质量, businesses and nonprofits must have had less than 50 employees and been able to demonstrate need. 另外, 30% of the funding was required to be awarded to women, 经验丰富的, 或者是少数人拥有的企业.

“皇冠博彩 and our regional partners have made over $9 million in grants to critically impacted small businesses in West Michigan,Birgit Klohs说, 总裁兼首席执行官, 皇冠博彩公司. “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, 少数民族, 还有退伍军人的小企业.”

Demand for funding far exceeded available funds, 用2,995 applicants requesting over $50M in support throughout the region. In 肯特郡, 73% of the funding was awarded to women, 经验丰富的, and 少数民族-owned businesses. 整个11个县地区, 66% of the funding was awarded to women, 经验丰富的, 或者是少数人拥有的企业.

皇冠博彩 and its regional partners were responsible for distributing funds to support qualifying small businesses within 11 of the 13 县 of West Michigan's Prosperity Region #4: Barry, 爱奥尼亚, 肯特, 湖, 梅森, Mecosta, Montcalm, 马斯基根, Newaygo, Oceana, 和奥西奥拉县. Grant funds for Ottawa and Allegan Counties were administered separately by 湖岸的优势.

Each county assembled a local county review committee for restart applications. The size of the committees varied and were composed of both public and private economic development partners. Collaborative partners included local economic development organizations, 市, 县, 市区发展当局, 商会, 少数民族协会和商会, 当地银行和金融专业人士, 社区基金会, 和其他人. The 肯特郡 review committee was co-chaired by Guillermo Cisneros of the West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and Jamiel Robinson of Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses.

Applications from affected businesses were accepted, 综述了, and approved by these local county review committees. Funds are being distributed by 皇冠博彩 directly to the applicant companies.

受助人感言

素食芝士蛋糕公司

“Receiving this grant has been such a blessing for 素食芝士蛋糕公司,杰里卡·布坎南说, 创始人, 素食芝士蛋糕公司. “Our business growth plans were put on hold due to 新型冠状病毒肺炎, 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, 重组我们的电子商务网站, 雇佣一个团队, 购买设备, and get the business up and running again.”

医疗英里按摩

“This grant ensures a softer landing for us 和其他人 to continue to provide natural health and wellness support to our community, 雷切尔·阿塔德说, 共同所有人, 医疗英里按摩 and Yoga Therapy Center. “It will allow us to rebrand our group fitness studio so we can provide more one to one services. We can hire new staff after losing several. 我们可以付两个月的房租. 医疗英里按摩 and Yoga Therapy Center can continue to be a healthy, selfcare focused outlet that helps people manage the increased stress that has been thrust upon us all. Thanks so much for supporting small business like ours.”

就像家庭成人中心一样

“This grant came at the perfect moment for us,” said Danielle Camp of 就像家庭成人中心一样. “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 租金 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. 主要是, it gave us a little bit of peace of mind in a stressful, 可怕的, 一段充满挑战的时期. 为此，我们由衷地感激.”

戴上你的卷发(WYC)

“随着新型冠状病毒肺炎大流行, 戴上你的卷发(WYC) lost out on a lot of opportunities for sales and brand awareness this year,菲丽莎·罗德里格斯说, 创始人, 留卷发, 有限责任公司. “Because of this I had to shift my sales strategy and plan on using a sizeable part of the grant towards marketing and advertising. Social media has become a popular outlet for many during these unforeseen times, 因此, I am focusing my advertising efforts on these platforms. I will need a team to help me better manage this and so I plan to use part of the grant to hire one or two people to become part of the WYC team, whether it’s a part-time employee or a contractor.”