Additional $2.2M in Grant Awards from $11M Ingham County Sunrise Grant Program Released
267 Grants Awarded to Businesses Across Ingham County
Today, the Ingham County Board of Commissioners and the Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) announced additional grant recipients of the $11M Ingham County Sunrise Small Business Grants Program. Two-hundred sixty-seven businesses from across Ingham County received grants ranging from $5,000 or $25,000 for a total of $2,125,000 in grant awards.
These recent awards add to the $4,475,000 in grant funds LEAP and Ingham County awarded in the Retail, Goods and Services, Hospitality and Tourism and Nonprofit categories in September and October 2021, for a total of $6,600,000 awarded to date. LEAP expects to award additional capacity-building grants for childcare providers, business incubators and community impact organizations in mid-November 2021.
“This critical funding from Ingham County’s ARPA funds is allowing hundreds of small businesses to launch into the upcoming holiday season with confidence,” said Ingham County Board of Commissioners Chairman Bryan Crenshaw. “LEAP’s assistance is proving invaluable in preparing these businesses for a profitable fourth quarter and bright 2022.”
The Ingham County Sunrise Small Business Grant Program’s application and review process addresses the inequitable economic impact of COVID-19 and subsequent inaccess to initial relief efforts for underrepresented communities, including Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC), women, veterans, people with disabilities and people who are LGBTQ+.
“We are so thankful for receiving this grant from the Ingham County and LEAP which will help us better support our employees maintain our business location in the downtown Lansing and continue educating community about about how healthy lifestyle can be affordable and achievable for everyone.” said Vernon Richard, owner of Juice Nation.
Across all grant categories awarded to date, demographic distribution has exceeded Ingham County’s expectations to reach underrepresented business owners. Of the 535 awarded businesses, 84% of awardees, or 450 businesses, are substantially owned (50% or greater ownership share) by individuals from one or more underrrepresented communities, significantly surpassing the 50% target goal established by Ingham County. For the 83 Nonprofit awardees, 90% possessed underrepresented board leadership and 85% of executive directors are from underrepresented groups.
“We’re incredibly proud to be delivering this program with excellence on behalf of the county and are grateful to the many partners involved that made it possible to engage in a complex and equitable review process,” said Bob Trezise, president & CEO of LEAP. “Through rigorous due diligence and many individual reviewers from diverse organizations with extensive business experience and knowledge, we are confident these funds are giving our small-business community a leg up toward renewal.”
Ingham County created the Ingham County Sunrise Small Business Grant Program in April 2021 using $11 million from the county’s first tranche of Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds as authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The program includes working capital grants targeted to address ARPA and previous pandemic relief funding gaps, historic economic harm to socially disadvantaged populations and the business types, industries and areas of greatest need in Ingham County related to the COVID-19 crisis while also positioning the region’s largest county for sustainable long-term recovery. The county selected LEAP to administer the program on its behalf.
Geographic and demographic detail of applications received and awarded to date in all categories and all program documentation, including the application review process and scoring criteria, is available on Sunrise Grant web portal..
Category: Press Releases, Sunrise