Important Grow Grant Update

March 1, 2023

Thank you to all the businesses who applied for a Grow Grant. We appreciate your interest, your participation, and your patience in moving this program forward. Please find below important updates in our effort to bring more services and resources to you this year.

Litigation was recently filed against the County regarding the Cook County Grow Grant program. In order to assist small businesses as quickly as possible, we have chosen to rescind the Grow Grant program so we can restructure and redesign our small business grant program.

For background, none of the $25.5 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated to support the Grow Grant program have been awarded to small businesses. Cook County remains committed alongside our Grant Administrators, Program Coordinators, and partners to redesign the program to assist Cook County small businesses that were negatively impacted by COVID-19.

As part of the new program, Cook County will accelerate and expand the use of ARPA funds allocated to support small business resiliency in 2023. Please visit this page for periodic updates regarding the forthcoming new grant program.

All business information contained in your Grow Grant application will remain confidential and secure. All applications were submitted via Smartsheet, which uses encryption to ensure your data is protected from unauthorized disclosure. To read more about Smartsheet’s security measures, click here.

In the meantime, please review our robust calendar of small business events, sign up for a business advising session and visit our Programs page for other available resources.