Kalamazoo small businesses can benefit from loans and grants through a three-year partnership between the City of Kalamazoo and United Way BCKR that builds on a successful pandemic-related effort.

The new agreement, approved by the Kalamazoo City Commission on March 1, does two things. One, it expands the Kalamazoo Small Business Loan Fund (KSBLF), which provides low-interest loans between $5,000 and $50,000 to eligible small businesses, to three years. Two, the agreement adds three years to the Kalamazoo Micro-Enterprise Grants (KMEG) program, which offers grants up to $5,000 to eligible businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

“The partnership between the City and United Way helped small businesses endure some of the toughest challenges from the pandemic,” said Natalie Saucedo, Senior Director of Strategy & Innovation. “We’re deeply grateful for the City’s partnership and trust as we work together to aid Kalamazoo small businesses as they recover and thrive.”

Under the agreement, the City will grant a total of $3,115,500 through the Foundation for Excellence (FFE) Aspirational Fund to support the KSBLF and KMEG, with $450,000 allocated to each program every year ($900,000 annually). The grant also includes $138,500 annually for United Way to administer the programs, including hiring a staff position. (For details on the staff position or to apply, click here.)

Loans Available Now

Loans through KSBLF have been available continuously since the program launched last April. To be eligible, small businesses must be located within the city limits and meet the following requirements:

• Provide support to impacted employee(s), especially employees who are in the ALICE population; minority- and women-owned businesses; and businesses that are in the food/beverage, retail, manufacturing and service industry;
• Have been in operation for at least (1) one year prior to date of application;
• Have 50 FTE employees or less;
• Have annual revenue of $2.5 million or less;
• Need working capital to support payroll or benefit expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses, or other similar expenses that occur in the ordinary course of business.

Since the KSBLF was launched, 74 small businesses received loans totaling $1,289,500. Details are available here.

Spring Launch

KMEG grants focus on city-located, for-profit microbusinesses that need working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses or similar expenses that are part of normal business or support public health. Priority consideration goes to Black, Indigenous and all People of Color (BIPOC)-owned and/or women-owned microbusinesses. Secondary consideration goes to eligible businesses located in Shared Prosperity Kalamazoo neighborhoods—Northside, Edison and Eastside.

Grant applications for KMEG will be made available this spring.

Launched in May 2020 with $300,000 in funding from the City and $200,000 from the Consumers Energy Foundation, KMEG provided grants to 100 microbusinesses last summer. You can read success stories of some the grant recipients by clicking here.