Ohio Microbusiness Development Program

Ohio Microbusiness Development Program Details

The purpose of the Ohio Microbusiness Development Program is to provide funding for OCDCA nonprofit members seeking to offer microbusiness development programs to further develop a local delivery system that encourages microbusiness development, provides low- and moderate-income households with access to capital for business development and self-employment, and creates and retains long-term jobs in the private sector. The assistance enabled by this funding can be in the form of either training or technical assistance, or direct assistance to the business in the form of a loan.

2025 Ohio Microbusiness Development Program Request for Proposals

The Ohio Micro Business Development Program (OMBDP) is a funding opportunity for organizations that are Micro Business Organizations (MBO) and organizations that offer or would like to offer mico-business development as part of their programming. These dollars are designed to offset the costs needed to design and launch a micro-business training curriculum as well as to provide technical assistance for emerging entrepreneurs or existing micro businesses that wish to expand. 

The success of the program is measured by the following outcomes: the number of businesses assisted, total enrolled, total completes, technical assistance consultations, the number of households assisted, business starts, business expansions, FTE jobs created/retained, and the number of Low to Moderate income individuals who received assistance through the funding. 

Additional components of the program could include access to a Recoverable Loan Fund for micro-lending and Micro Individual Development Accounts. Applicants must be members of the OCDCA and be able to provide a match contribution from other resources that they use to support their programs.

Special consideration will be given to applications that are proposing innovative programs or are proposing to work with underserved populations. The application deadline is 5:00 PM on Friday, October 11th.

Funding

Funding for the Ohio Microbusiness Development Program comes from the Ohio Housing Trust Fund (OHTF) through the Ohio Department of Development (ODOD). Funding for the Recoverable Grant Fund comes from the U.S. Bank Foundation.

Eligibility

Eligible organizations must meet the following criteria:

• Incorporated with the State of Ohio for the last two years;

• Valid 501(c)(3) IRS designation;

• Board of directors composed of no less than one-third low- to moderate-income (LMI) members, defined as:

  • Members whose households are low- to moderate-income;

  • Members who represent organizations that primarily serve LMI households;

• Membership in the Ohio CDC Association;

• Eligible organization must be community-based and have a development focus;

• Eligible organization must have an audited financial statement within the last year or a set of financial statements and tax returns for the immediately previous two (2) years and the most recent financial audit.

Eligible organizations may apply for funding of up to $30,000, 10% of which can be used for administrative expenses.

Ohio Microbusiness Recoverable Grant Fund

In 2015, in an effort to bolster capacity building offerings to our membership, OCDCA, with member, board, and a separate case development group’s support, created the Ohio Microbusiness Recoverable Grant Fund. OCDCA has created the Ohio Microbusiness Recoverable Grant Fund to provide a sustainable pool of funding to these community development organizations, who can then use the funds to make loans to local microentrepreneurs in their community.

Members of the Ohio Microbusiness Development Program gain access to the Ohio Microbusiness Recoverable Grant Fund, which makes recoverable grants to microbusiness development programs in order for the program to make loans to low-moderate income microentrepreneur clients.

For further questions about the program, please contact staff@ohiocdc.org.