Kalamazoo Small Business Loan Fund

The Kalamazoo Small Business Loan Fund, established in partnership with the City of Kalamazoo and supported by the Foundation for Excellence, is intended to be a bridge loan to provide local businesses time and opportunity to take advantage of the current COVID-19 SBA Loans, State, and Federal loan assistance programs.

Guiding Principles of the fund include:

Equity. The Loan Fund is intended to support community members living below the ALICE threshold, marginalized and disparate populations.
Collaboration. Whenever possible, dollars from the Loan Fund will be used to leverage federal, state and other local resources.
Short-Term Use. The Loan Fund is designed to provide immediate, short-term resources until additional federal and state loan options become available.
Flexibility. The Loan Fund is designed to be flexible in terms of how the resources are spent to meet the most critical needs of businesses and their employees.

Eligibility

Low-interest loans between $5,000 and $50,000 will be available for businesses that meet the following requirements:

Provides support to impacted employee(s), especially employees who are in the ALICE population; minority- and women-owned businesses; and businesses that are in the food/beverage, retail, manufacturing and service industry.
Is located in the City of Kalamazoo.
Has 50 FTE employees or less.
Has annual revenue of $2.5 million or less.
Needs working capital to support payroll expenses, rent, mortgage payments, utility expenses, or other similar expenses that occur in the ordinary course of business.
Is able to demonstrate an income loss as a result of the EO, or the COVID-19 outbreak.

Eligible uses of the loan may include, but are not limited to:

Operational costs including rent, mortgage, utilities, and other ordinary business expenses.
Payroll and benefit costs for employees.
Financial impacts as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and executive orders.