Displaying items tagged: Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses

GRAND RAPIDS — A wave of stricter stormwater management requirements are going into effect across the state, highlighting the need for additional funding tools to help developers and businesses create green infrastructure.

Two entrepreneurs and a construction industry veteran are launching a new Grand Rapids-based construction management firm.

Regional business and economic development leaders recently announced a list of 12 “transformational” projects that could reshape Kent County’s ability to attract visitors, new residents and employers.

Access to capital, markets and networks are the three primary barriers to success for Black entrepreneurs, according to Jamiel Robinson.

GRAND RAPIDS — Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist was in Grand Rapids Monday touting the Whitmer administration’s Economic Jumpstart Plan for small businesses as billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief funding comes into Michigan.

It’s been a year since social media timelines were filled with Black Lives Matter hashtags, messages of solidarity with people of color, and promises to address racism as organizations responded to the national racial justice movement.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit eight months ago, many Latinx and Black business owners missed out on federal loans and other relief because they didn’t have relationships with local bankers or didn’t have financial statements in order.

Here is the MiBiz Growth Report for November 22, 2020.

Grand Rapids Area Black Businesses and the West Michigan Hispanic Chamber of Commerce received $75,000 each from Flagstar Bank to offer grants to small businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

GRAND RAPIDS — Black-owned businesses negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in Grand Rapids can apply for financial assistance from a $25,000 donation from Comcast Corp. 

Kent County officials have provided $40,000 to help minority business owners facing language barriers access COVID-19 relief funding.

GRAND RAPIDS — Two organizations representing minority-owned businesses issued a public statement Wednesday condemning a Kent County program that’s distributing $25 million in federal CARES Act funding for small business relief.

  GRAND RAPIDS — In partnering on a $25 million small business relief fund, Kent County and the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce want to tap a number of community and entrepreneurial support organizations to get the word out to companies and provide volunteers to vet grant applicants. 

GRAND RAPIDS — The May 30 violence following protests against police brutality not only damaged dozens of downtown businesses on the verge of reopening, but also has caused local leaders to revisit efforts to mend the city’s historically strained police-community relations.

GRAND RAPIDS — As part of an ongoing investigation into dozens of discrimination complaints against the Grand Rapids Police Department, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the city are in discussions over a “global resolution” involving systemic bias at the GRPD.

The foundation for the Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce wants to raise another $2 million for an emergency relief fund for small businesses affected by closures from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leaders of Asian, Latino and African American business groups say their members face distinct challenges while recovering economically from the coronavirus, including a historical lack of access to capital, discrimination, immigration status and language barriers. 

GRAND RAPIDS — When  realized it needed to add vehicles to its fleet to grow the business, founder Rich Flowers ran into some roadblocks familiar to many African American and minority entrepreneurs. 

GRAND RAPIDS — From an undisclosed $100 million foreign-backed fund to local real estate agents, investors of all kinds are staking their bets on the Grand Rapids housing market.