Over $100 million is available in grants through the Michigan Small Business Restart Program and the Michigan Agricultural Safety Grant Program for small businesses, nonprofits, and farms and food processors.

Approved by the Michigan Strategic Fund on July 7, the Michigan Small Business Restart Program allocates $100 million of federal CARES Act funding to provide support to small businesses and nonprofits that are reopening and have experienced a loss of income as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. The funding will be distributed across 15 local or nonprofit economic development organizations covering all 83 counties in the state for grants up to $20,000 each to support certain small businesses that have realized a significant financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19 virus. Small businesses and nonprofits can apply at michiganbusiness.org/restart through August 5.

The $15 million Michigan Agricultural Safety Grant Program application process is also now live and can be found at michiganbusiness.org/agsafety. The program will support the implementation of COVID-19 monitoring and mitigation strategies to protect agricultural employees and the state’s overall food production industry, including PPE, testing, employee training and housing needs to ensure appropriate social distancing.

The Michigan Agricultural Safety Grants are divided between agricultural processors and farms:

• • $10 million in grants will be provided to processors statewide, with a minimum grant of $10,000 and a maximum grant of $200,000.
  • $5 million in grants will be available to farms statewide, with a minimum grant of $10,000 and a maximum grant of $50,000.

Applicants must apply as either a processor or a farm – but not both – and funds will provide grants of up to $1,000 per employee to fund COVID-19 mitigation costs, including but not limited to testing costs, personal protection equipment, facility needs, increased sanitation costs, employee training, and upgraded safety procedures for farm-provided housing.

The Agricultural Safety grants will be awarded on a first come, first serve basis to eligible applicants with GreenStone Farm Credit Services processing applications prior to sending to the Michigan Economic Development Corporation for final review and disbursement.

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