LANSING, Mich. — Small businesses across the Lansing region, state and nation are facing mounting uncertainty and deep concern over their ability to stay in business amid the persisting COVID-19 crisis. The Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP) is acting swiftly Wednesday through Monday, April 6, 2020, to evaluate 1,875 grant applications received since Tuesday, March 27, for the 60 $10,000 grants available to the Lansing region thanks to funds allocated by Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s (MEDC) Michigan Small Business Relief Program (MSBRP). Today, LEAP has also immediately transitioned to opening the MSBRP loan application for the Lansing region. The loan application is available on LEAP’s website at www.purelansing.com/businessrelief [purelansing.com] and will close promptly at 11:59 p.m. Tuesday, April 7, 2020.
“We have been asking small businesses in the region what would be most helpful to them right now and they told us number one, grant funds, and number two, low interest loans. So we are taking their lead and that is what we are focusing on right now—acting to support their immediate needs as they struggle to hang on through this crisis,” said Bob Trezise, president and CEO of LEAP. “We have received an overwhelming number of applications for the 60 grants we have available, which will help at least some of them get through, and this loan option can hopefully help a few more.”
Since these emergency grants and loans were announced by Governor Whitmer last week, LEAP worked to develop an application portal and to establish a fair and objective application and regional review process for the MSBRP grants, which will also be utilized to issue the MSBRP loans. Businesses are not eligible to receive both grants and loans.
Small businesses wishing to apply for loan funds must be Michigan-based with fewer than 100 employees (full or part time), must be founded and owned locally in our region with gross revenue at or less than $1.5 million in 2019 and must also meet additional criteria established by the MEDC and LEAP. Franchises are not eligible for these loans.
Loans to selected eligible borrowers will be issued with a 0.25 percent interest rate, with no collateral required and flexible repayment terms. Loan amounts may range from at least $50,000 to no more than $200,000. LEAP expects to issue 3-12 loans depending on the amount of funds allocated to our region by the MEDC.
Complete eligibility requirements, loan details, application scoring criteria, description of the review process and FAQ are available on LEAP’s website at www.purelansing.com/businessrelief
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