Emily Olivares (she/her/ella) is the Associate Director of Small Business at UWSCMI.
Here at United Way of South Central Michigan (UWSCMI), we invest in small businesses.
We believe it is one of the most powerful ways to support ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) families. Small businesses create local and accessible jobs, often offer flexible employment, keep dollars in the community, serve as neighborhood anchors, and provide opportunities for ALICE entrepreneurs to generate income and build assets.
Through our Kalamazoo Micro-Enterprise Grant (KMEG) program, we provide $5,000 microgrants to small businesses within the City of Kalamazoo. In the past five years, we have invested $2.5 million in 501 small businesses to support our local economy through the KMEG process.
In early 2025, we partnered with Restorative Economics Group, a research firm based in Jackson, to help us understand the impact KMEG has had in our community in the last five years. Through this evaluation process, three long-term impact themes emerged:
- Employment & Sales Growth: KMEG enabled businesses to make foundational investments in equipment, marketing, and operational goal capacity which allowed businesses to have long-term growth.
- Sustained Local Economic and Community Investment: Business owners consistently reinvested funds into our community by prioritizing local vendors, suppliers, and service providers—keeping those dollars right here in Kalamazoo.
- Enhanced Business & Strategic Confidence: Receiving the grant boosted the business owner’s confidence, which helped them ground themselves and move from survival-mode decision-making to proactive, growth-oriented planning.
While these are outcomes to be celebrated, lasting impact doesn’t happen within a single grant cycle. It’s created through our collective commitment to investing in our small businesses and communities.
Our call to action is this: When deciding where to spend your money, invest locally and beyond Small Business Saturday – in Kalamazoo and in communities all across our region.
You’re not only supporting small businesses; you are investing in your community.
If you have a small business you’d like to promote, please visit our forum post on Community Connect and drop your information in the comment section.
