Opinion | Michigan small businesses, we must stay the course

The COVID-19 crisis has been devastating for large and small businesses across the country. Uncertainty is at an all-time high and concern for our economy grows by the day. To survive this crisis, we need leaders at both the state and national level who understand and anticipate the hit our local businesses and economy will continue to take during this unprecedented health crisis. 

We recognize the tough decisions Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has had to make in order to protect public health and stop the spread of this virus. If not for her steadfast leadership, our state would surely be in worse shape. Small business owners have suffered major damage from the coronavirus crisis, either through forced closure or business reduction. As COVID-19 ravages our community in Detroit, black and minority business owners are facing significant challenges. Now, more than ever, we need partners in government that are considering the needs of Main Street to those of Wall Street. 

We want to acknowledge and lift up the extraordinary efforts our small business partners have been making to support our communities during this crisis. From restaurants pivoting to feed front-line health care workers, to moving PPE from their suppliers to those who need it, from changing their operations to start producing cloth masks, we’ve seen heroic acts of small business owners responding to this moment. 

One thing is certain: now is not the time to waver.  Now is the time to stay the course or else we risk making a bad situation even worse. We also could be putting public health at risk.

Gov. Whitmer has taken positive steps to ensure Michigan workers and businesses are taken care of. We applaud these decisions, which include extending unemployment benefits for Michigan workers, securing forgivable loans for small businesses during this crisis and ensuring Michigan’s economy doesn’t suffer for longer than necessary.

One way we can support the right actions for public health and continue to support our main street businesses is by making sure that any expansion to the Paycheck Protection Program prioritizes funding access to our communities of color, who have been hit hardest both from the virus and economically. 

In order for small businesses to stay the course, they need direct financial support and immediate access to grants and loans so they can stay afloat while we make the right decisions for public health.  Opening early would only further extend this potential crisis, directly impacting small business bottom lines. 

Small businesses are the heart of Michigan’s economy. Small businesses accounted for 67 percent of net new jobs following the Great Recession and have been key to Detroit’s continued recovery. There’s no doubt the governor’s executive order will be a heavy weight on the small business owners and employees in our state, but it is the best way to move beyond this crisis into recovery. The worst thing we could do right now is prematurely pull back these important restrictions and make a bad economic situation even worse. Michiganders need to come together and support the governor so that we can get through this public health crisis and rebuild together.

Michigan will need the small business community when it’s time to stitch our economy back together. Our future relies on all of us slowing the spread of this virus that has ravaged our state. We’re in this together.