The Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber has been awarded a $60,000 grant by the Corewell Health Foundation to support two of its non-profit subsidiaries.

Chamber President Arthur Havlicek tells us $50,000 of the grant will go to the Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber Foundation, which supports the chamber’s four pillars of Leadership Development, Business Development, Community Development, and Economic Development.

“Within those pillars, we have various programs,” Havlicek said. “For example, the Leadership Accelerator in collaboration with Lake Michigan College is one of our premier leadership development offerings. Our NextGen program, which is a young professionals program, is another example. For business development, we recently held our first Hype event, which was a Shark Tank style pitch competition for budding entrepreneurs.”

Havlicek says for economic development, the chamber runs the Bridgman CGA. For community development, he says the chamber holds celebrations like ribbon cuttings year-round to welcome new businesses.

The other $10,000 from the Corewell grant will be used to support Discover Southwest Michigan, a new initiative of the chamber to attract residents to the region.

“We’re off to a great start. Right now we are working on the marketing and collateral related to Discover Southwest Michigan primarily so that we can promote the region as a fantastic place not just to visit but to live.”

Havlicek says there’s a “mission alignment” between Corewell and the chamber in that both seek to improve living conditions in Southwest Michigan, making them good partners.

This is the first grant the chamber has received from the Corewell Foundation because Havlicek says the chamber wasn’t eligible for grants before it started its own foundation this year. Moving forward, he says the new Southwest Michigan Regional Chamber Foundation will open all kinds of opportunities for the chamber to find support.