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Building a vibrant Battle Creek

Battle Creek Building a vibrant Battle Creek

Our Funding Focus

We want children to grow up in a dynamic Battle Creek, anchored by a strong, dependable economy and an abundance of opportunities for the future. That means strengthening small businesses and attracting new ones, building a thriving downtown and inspiring more investments and improvements to our city’s infrastructure.

Our grantmaking is:

  • Supporting small businesses: Northern Initiatives established our Battle Creek Small Business Loan Fund that created new loan products for low- to moderate-income entrepreneurs and small business owners of color who do not qualify for traditional financing.
  • Ensuring equitable opportunities for local entrepreneurs and leaders: The Washington Heights Real Estate Improvement Fund provides real estate capital and technical support to people of color-owned businesses and property owners in the Washington Heights neighborhood. Village Network built a comprehensive, citywide investment plan to better serve communities of color. Other local partners are strengthening the support system for entrepreneurs of color, with networking, training programs and on-demand business consulting.
  • Building a vibrant downtown community: We supported an award-winning rehabilitation of The Milton, a downtown high-rise that had stood vacant for more than a decade, and now has more than 80 apartments filled with residents. Our Downtown Real Estate Improvement Fund helps local partners prepare vacant and blighted properties and market them to key developers for future uses to benefit the community.
  • Attracting new economic opportunities: Our transformative investment in the new downtown DoubleTree by Hilton will benefit local small businesses and attract new businesses by adding vibrancy to the downtown, and it will also create jobs and offer a hospitality training program for Battle Creek residents.
  • Addressing the need for affordable housing: We work with local, statewide and national partners, like Michigan Economic Development Corporation, Michigan State Housing Development Authority and Local Initiatives Support Corporation to address the shortage of affordable housing.