By Dana Kroll, Uptown Marketing and Communications Specialist
Uptown Grand Rapids, Inc. is pleased to announce that for a fourth consecutive time, it has been selected as a recipient of the latest grant opportunity offered via the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s ‘Match on Main’ program. The most recent grant has been awarded on behalf of Eastown’s Riverside Guitar School, whose owner applied for funding via the UGRI organization.
The purpose of the program, which has awarded a collective total of nearly 3 million dollars to recipients across the state since its inception in 2021, is to offer support to small businesses in Michigan. The grant’s aim is to encourage the retention of and addition to business workforces, as well as to help the businesses add resiliency and strength to both their own businesses and the districts and neighborhoods in which they exist. The grant is awarded to the UGRI organization, to be distributed as a reimbursement to those businesses whose applications were approved for submittal by the organization.
In this most recent round, the MEDC has selected to disperse nearly $700,000 in $25,000 increments, which will ultimately be received by a total of 28 small and independent Michigan businesses. This will include Riverside Guitar School. The business is Grand Rapids’ only guitar school, and is dedicated to fostering connection and music knowledge, as well as educating its students to learn and grow as guitarists, beginning with students as young as 4 years old.
Says Ingrid Miller, Executive Director, Uptown Grand Rapids, Inc.: “We’d like to congratulate Riverside Guitar School on being selected for Match on Main funding. Uptown is committed to supporting the growth of our small businesses and recognizes the catalytic impact this investment has on the community. Riverside Guitar School’s project will physically improve an underutilized space, create jobs, and increase access to music education in our region. We are honored to participate in the Match on Main program and to be able to provide access to funding on behalf of our businesses.”
Says Dean Wiers-Windemuller, Owner, Riverside Guitar School: “Being awarded this grant is huge for Riverside Guitar School. It will help us utilize a currently unused space in our building, providing quiet, private classrooms so our students can focus on their learning during class time. I want to say a great big thanks, both to Match on Main and to Uptown GR, Inc., for their help in securing this funding.”
Uptown consists of four business districts: Eastown, East Fulton, Wealthy Street, and East Hills. In all climates, Uptown celebrates its people, partnerships, and possibilities. Its mission is to sustain a strong and vibrant urban district through planning, coordinating, and communicating with and between all sectors of the Uptown community and beyond.
For more information about this and all things Uptown, please contact Ingrid Miller.