Change Your World Week Winter 2021 (Archived)

According to CDN Advocacy, Michigan has over 800,000 small businesses, making up over 99% of Michigan's total businesses. At least 1.9 million people are employed through small businesses and 48% of jobs created in America are made from small businesses. (1)

Small businesses are key to a healthy economy and as these businesses start to close down, families begin to lose money and start struggling to put food on the table. Some people may be thinking "It's a good thing that our small businesses are thriving!" when in reality, they are not. Yelp has recently reported that 61% of their businesses have closed down after Covid-19 started. (4) Out of all those businesses that have closed down, 40% of the businesses predict that they will not be able to reopen after Covid-19 is handled. (1) 

Many people believe that there are things being done about this, and yes there are things such as The CARES Act which provides direct economic assistance to American workers, families, and businesses. This is hardly a solution because people are taking advantage of this by creating fake companies just to get $10,000, and big corporations like Shake Shack has claimed that their restaurant chains have less then 500 employees which is how many a business needs to qualify. (3)

In order to help the great state of Michigan, we must use Michigan's budget to give more to small businesses going bankrupt or have closed due to Covid-19.

Governor Whitmer just put out Michigan's Covid-19 relief fund and she is giving a big chunk of change to schools to help them open back  up and make accommodations so children can finally start going back to school in person. "Michigan’s public K-12 schools would receive between $82 and $164 more in per-pupil funding according to a budget proposal from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that shows the state is placing a high priority on helping students recover from the pandemic." (2)

I am all for education, but I think the more pressing matter is that many people in Michigan alone have lost their job and has yet to find a new one. Our intention is to bring this information to the law makers in hopes that they will rethink their decision on how the budget for Michigan should be distributed! Small businesses need help and they need it now!

HELP US TAKE ACTION AS A COMMUNITY, TO HELP OUR FELLOW NEIGHBORS GET BACK ON THEIR FEET AND BACK INTO THE ECONOMY!

Everyone in Michigan could be effected by these small businesses struggling. There could be less jobs and maybe even you could lose your job.  Stores may become more centralized and Meijer and Walmart could  become even more powerful than they already are! 

The people responsible for making this decision would be the Senators and House Representatives.

• The Senator for people who live near Midland would be Jim Stamas and the House representative would be Annette Glenn.
  •  #36 Jim Stamas - Phone number: (517) 373-7946  E-mail: SenJStamas@senatae.michigan.gov
  • #98 Annette Glen - Phone number: (517) 373-1791  E-mail: AnnetteGlenn@house.mi.gov
• For those living in or around Saginaw, their Senator would be Ken Horn and their House Representative would be Rodney Wakeman.
  • #32 Ken Horn - Phone number: (517) 373-1760  E-mail:SenKHorn@senate.michigan.gov
  • #94 Rodney Wakeman - Phone number: (517) 373-0837  E-mail: RodneyWakeman@house.mi.gov
• For those living in or around Bay City, their Senator is Kevin Daley and their House of Representative is Timothy Beson. 
  • #31 Kevin Daley - Phone number: (517) 373-1777   E-mail: SenKDaley@senate.michigan.gov
  • #96 Timothy Beson - Phone number: (517) 373-0158   E-mail:  TimothyBeson@house.mi.gov

Here is the senators website and here is the house of representatives website. You can put in your address and find you senator and representative from the website. 

HOUSE (BELOW)

While many people agree that a Covid-19 relief fund for small businesses is good, there are some opposing arguments being raised. These arguments being: 

•  Misuse of funding 

  • People in other states have been using the funding they received for their small business towards things that don't benefit their small business.  A small business owner in Florida used his small business funding to buy himself a new car, which didn't benefit his business. Small businesses should not be given money if they are going to use it for things outside helping their small business thrive. 

• People creating “small businesses” , or claiming they own a business, just to receive free money

  • Other states that funded small businesses with a Covid-19 relief fund, have had cases where people were creating “small businesses” just so they could receive free money. These people do not rightly deserve the funding money. The Covid-19 Small Business Relief Fund might not always go to who it belongs to.

• More funding for schools instead 

  • We should put this money towards the next generation's education. Gov. Whitmer suggested we give more money to schools to help students more. Because of the pandemic, many students have fallen behind in school. With more funding,  schools could offer more programs to students, such as: summer school, after class programs, and day camps. We could also better help our minority students, students from low-income families, students with English as a second language, and students with disabilities. ALL students deserve a good education.

• Funding for Covid-19 testing and Vaccines

  • Pres. Biden called for $50 billion to go towards funding for Covid-19 testing, and rapid testing. This would allow for more Americans to get tested, if, and when they need to be. Biden also called for $20 billion to go towards funding the Covid-19 National Vaccine Program. This would allow communities to have vaccine centers for their citizens. Ensuring that the Covid-19 vaccine is available for more United State citizens.

Learning about this information can be very overwhelming. Especially all at once. I know some of you might be dying to take part in out cause! If that is you, you can sign our petition to bring awareness to our problem and get the lawmakers to notice that something needs to be done!

Also, you can send a letter to the lawmakers of your district! I took the courtesy of writing a letter to lawmakers for you including details about the issue and what we think should be done about it. All you have to do is copy, paste, and click send! 

LETTER BELOW

                                           Your information here

Dear lawmakers,

              Our small businesses in Michigan are dying and they need your help. Families are losing income all due to Covid-19 and business owners have no choice but to surrender their businesses. With working for that specific business being their only income, they are left to suffer catastrophic loses and not just money. Having businesses being shut down mean that their normal clients will have to go somewhere else. Even if the small businesses could open back up, there would be no guarantee that they would get their old clients back.  

              The CARES Act, or the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act has not even made a dent in helping businesses stay afloat during this crucial time of need. The CARES Act has lots of money spread out all through the United States. $10,000 dollars is generally what a small business gets, if they even qualify. Many small business owners have complained that $10,000 dollars is barely enough to survive them 2 weeks let alone the rest of the pandemic. As I have stated previously, this a nationwide act and is not specified to small businesses. Michigan’s small businesses need serious help because these small businesses make up around 99% of Michigan’s total businesses! If all these businesses went under, the unemployment rate would be through the roof.

 Something needs to be done and the citizens of Michigan will not stand by and watch our state suffer. We need to keep our economy afloat so that we can get and keep people off unemployment. This needs to be addressed and the Coronavirus relief aid needs to be arranged and focus on small businesses and getting them back into action!

We have taken the time to ACTUALLY interview someone form our community and ask them have the Covid-19 pandemic has effected their life and business. She is a baker located here in Saginaw! There are also some very insightful facts and statistics included as well! 

Check it out by clicking the link below!

Save Our Businesses!

          Bartik, Alexander “A Way Forward for Small Businesses.” Harvard Business Review, 1 Feb. 2021, hbr.org/2020/04/a-way-forward-for-small-businesses. (1)

          Caro, Beatrice Di, et al. “The World Economic Forum.” World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org/. (4)

          Higgins, Lori. “Whitmer Proposes Spending Increases for Michigan Schools, COVID Academic Recovery.” Chalkbeat Detroit, Chalkbeat Detroit, 11 Feb. 2021, detroit.chalkbeat.org/2021/2/11/22279036/whitmer-proposes-spending-increases-for-schools-covid-academic-recovery. (2)

          Iacurci, Greg. “Here's How Big Companies Used a Loophole to Get Paycheck Protection Program Loans.” CNBC, CNBC, 21 Apr. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/04/20/how-shake-shack-potbelly-and-ruths-chris-got-small-business-loans.html. (3)