Yazmine Vargas Root and her husband opened Matchacita in December. The small pink cafe in downtown Kalamazoo specializes in dairy and gluten free drinks and baked goods - and matcha.
Vargas Root said friends encouraged her to apply for Michigan's Match on Main grant program.
“This would be great for us, especially since we're just starting. Getting this extra income can really help.”
Matchacita and 62 other small businesses across the state learned last week that they’d been approved for grants of up to $25,000. Seventeen are in West Michigan.
Vargas Root said she will use her grant of over $19,000 to add outdoor seating and purchase new equipment.
She said she wasn't surprised to be on the list of grant recipients when Governor Gretchen Whitmer made the announcement on July 29.
“I kind of had a good feeling that we are the small business that this grant was targeting," she said, adding, "but I was, I was super excited to hear about it.”
The state of Michigan doubled its support of downtown commercial districts in small towns and cities in 2025 by doubling its investment in small businesses and startups in those communities. The increase in funding came after a five-year impact study demonstrated the program's success.
The total of $1.49 million in grant funding comes from the Michigan Strategic Fund through the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. It is expected to create 166 new full-time jobs and 278 part-time jobs across the state.
Among the 17 companies awarded grants in West Michigan are the Children's Museum of Branch County in Coldwater, the Bogar Theatre in Marshall, Rooney's Soul Food Wagon in Comstock, Front Street Pizza in Niles, MI Grounds in Plainwell, and Natures County Cupboard in South Haven.
For Vargas Root at Matchacita in Kalamazoo, the grant is helping small businesses like hers to move forward.
“We want our neighbors to be able to grow as business owners, Vargas Root said.
"And so, this kind of gives that step up and it kind of gives, you know, a little bit of like incentive to to be a really good part of the community.”
