A fund that supports small businesses in Benzie, Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties that have been affected by the pandemic continues to grow through the support of CMF members.
A fund that supports small businesses in Benzie, Grand Traverse and Leelanau Counties that have been affected by the pandemic continues to grow through the support of CMF members.
The Regional Resiliency Fund is a joint program of Traverse Connect and Venture North and provides grants of up to $5,000 to small businesses. The fund was created in June through a grant of $200,000 from the Consumers Energy Foundation to Venture North, a community development financial institution (CDFI), to help small businesses negatively impacted by the pandemic. Since its launch, DTE Energy Foundation, Leelanau Township Community Foundation and Grand Traverse Regional Community Foundation have provided grants to the fund.
“Small businesses are vital to our culture and quality of life in Leelanau Township,” Joan Moore, executive director of the community foundation said. “Venture North and the Regional Resiliency Fund provide an opportunity for us to support the businesses and families that are caught in the global pandemic, the likes of which we’ve never seen.”
Venture North shared that in the three-county region there are over 8,000 companies with nine or fewer employees, many of which have not been the recipients of other COVID-19-related stimulus funding. The fund is now in its second round of grant funding and has already awarded $200,000 in pandemic relief aid to 78 small businesses in the region.
“Thriving small businesses in northern Michigan not only make a positive impact on our communities, but they’re also critical in driving economic recovery and progress statewide as well,” Lynette Dowler, executive director and president, DTE Energy Foundation said. “Our partnership with Venture North Funding and Development will deliver essential support to businesses across Benzie, Grand Traverse, and Leelanau Counties. Together, we’ll enable small business owners to focus on what matters most: serving their customers and growing their enterprises. We know this grant will empower entrepreneurs across the three-county area to continue to write their success stories, and we’re honored to be even a small part of their next chapters.”
The Regional Resiliency Fund will continue to award new rounds of grants to businesses as it receives grants and charitable contributions.
