ISHPEMING — The Ishpeming Downtown Development Authority has three grants available to assist business owners within the city.

A setup assistance grant valued at $5,000 is available for those looking to start a new business, aiding with the costs of things like administrative equipment, software, and other necessities to help establish a business.

The second $10,000 Facade Improvement grant is for startup businesses, which doesn’t require specific design criteria but focuses on maintaining the historic integrity of the downtown district, and applications are accepted on a rolling basis. An additional startup grant for $20,000 is also available to assist new business owners with restaurants or expansions.

“The community’s so motivated to get business owners and restaurants to our community that they implemented this $20,000 grant to help a restaurant expand or start up a new restaurant. That’s huge. There’s not many areas that are doing that. So that kind of shows how much the community is willing to support new entrepreneurs, business owners, people that want to take that leap of faith…” said Antonio Adan, a member of the Ishpeming DDA. “the city is supportive (and) the DDA. It’s not a comparison, but certainly there’s a lot of pride in Ishpeming and people just want to see the downtown become vibrant again.”

Application materials and full grant descriptions are available online at ishpemingcity.org/dda/downtown-development-authority-facade-grant-boundary.

For more information or questions, call Cathy Smith, Ishpeming City Clerk, at 906-485-1091, ext. 203.

Abby LaForest can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 548. Her email address is alaforest@miningjournal.net.