From mushroom farms to aviation support, several small businesses in the region have qualified and benefitted from Inclusion Grants given out by JobsOhio, the state’s economic development agency.

To get an Inclusion Grant, the business must be at least 51% owned by a member of a minority, a woman, a veteran or a person with a disability. The project must also be in a “distressed” zip code.

The goal is to grow small businesses in Ohio that don’t always get access to funding sources other large companies obtain, JobsOhio administrators said.

During a Friday lunch at West Social Tap and Table in West Dayton, a handful of the business owners shared their stories with Montgomery County commissioners, Dayton Development Coalition members, and members of the JobsOhio team.

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The grants are between $25,000 and $100,000, said J.P. Nauseef, president and CEO of JobsOhio. The people who spoke at Friday’s lunch said the money had often gone toward purchasing equipment or hiring additional staff.

Nauseef said roughly 400 of these types of grants have been given out in Ohio and about 50 grants have been given out in the greater Dayton area.

“Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, and to have a vibrant community, it takes large businesses and small businesses, entrepreneurial businesses, and so we wanted to make sure we covered the gambit,” Nauseef said.

He said it is also important to have economic investment outside of Ohio’s biggest cities, in places like southeastern Ohio but also the small towns scattered across the state.

“We need to make sure there were jobs and vibrancy beyond the three C’s, beyond the midsize communities everywhere in Ohio, for us to continue to have our economic momentum,” he said.

David Sparks, co-owner of Guided by Mushrooms, a farm in New Lebanon that grows specialty mushrooms, was able to purchase new equipment in the last year with the $30,000 grant the company received from JobsOhio.

“It really helped us boost our production and the speed of our production,” Sparks said.

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Mark DeBruin, CTO of Skuld, which works on 3D printing replacement parts quickly, said his team, which includes his wife and daughter, received a $50,000 grant six months ago to buy more equipment to move production in-house and making it more efficient.

“We can now have one, it’s much more efficient. It’s better for the environment,” DeBruin said.

Terrence William, owner of Miami Valley Metal Recycling, said he was able to hire two more people with the grant he received.

Onome Scott-Emuakpor, who previously worked in the aviation industry, said he was able to take advantage of an Inclusion Grant to add to his small business, which deals with 3D printing in the aviation industry.

“What I do requires a lot of capital,” he said. “Every single dollar that we can scrape is helpful.”