Michigan Small Business Restart Program

Approved in July, the Michigan Small Business Restart Program allocated $100 million of federal CARES Act funding to provide support to Michigan’s small businesses and nonprofits that are reopening and have experienced a loss of income as a result of the COVID-19 crisis.

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Grant Information

Critical relief totaling nearly $100 million for 14,441 small businesses across the state has been awarded to date through the Michigan Small Business Restart Grant program. Of the businesses that received grants, 2,101 reported as minority-owned, 3,832 reported as woman-owned, and 460 reported as veteran-owned, with 2,621 businesses selecting multiple categories.

At least 30 percent of the funds awarded under the program were required to be provided to women-owned, minority-owned or veteran-owned eligible businesses, and all EDOs have met, or exceeded, this requirement in the awards being made.

For questions regarding your submitted Restart grant application, please contact the local economic development organization that covers the county in which your business is located. 

Selected EDOs were responsible for reviewing applications of small businesses in their region and ultimately determining grant awards through the program. The full list of EDOs administering Michigan Small Business Restart grants and the counties they serve is below.

Partnering Local Economic Development Organizations

The Michigan Strategic Fund approved the distribution of grant funding across 15 local or nonprofit economic development organizations (EDOs) covering all 83 counties in the state. Participating EDOs are listed below.

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Grant Eligibility

Applications were open to businesses and nonprofits with 50 or fewer employees, worldwide, located in Michigan. Businesses had to also demonstrate the following:

  • Part of an industry or nonprofit that can demonstrate it has been impacted by the COVID-19 emergency
  • Needs working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses or other similar expenses
  • Demonstrates an income loss as result of the COVID-19 emergency as determined by the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF).

Eligible Expenditures

Grants must be used for expenditures made between March 1, 2020 and December 30, 2020 that meet the following criteria:

  • Necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19 (such as resulting from employment or business interruptions due to COVID-19)
  • Working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses, costs related to reopening a business or nonprofit, or other use authorized under the CARES Act.

Frequently Asked Questions and Program Guidelines

Please review the following for more information:

Additional Information

The Michigan Small Business Restart Program is modeled after the Michigan Small Business Relief Program, approved on March 19 by the Michigan Strategic Fund to support small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Under the Michigan Small Business Relief grant program, local EDOs selected more than 2,700 businesses across the state covering all 83 counties that received grant support expected to retain approximately 11,000 jobs. To date, more than 130 small business loans totaling more than $8 million have also been approved.