States help cash-strapped small businesses

Michigan small businesses are in dire straits, Detroit is suffering from unemployment rates that rival the Great Depression and the state's deficit has now topped $1.5 billion, according to AllBusiness.com. But help is on the way.

A unique program which puts big businesses in charge of promoting smaller businesses, Bizdom U has provided a sort of business boot camp for growing companies - and is paid for entirely by Dan Gilbert, founder of mortgage firm Quicken Loans.

“Bizdom was a lot less academic and more real-world; you got exposed to what it’s really like to start a company, hands-on,” says Jon Baugh, who attended the program three years ago with his business Dermanaut.

Upon graduation, the program also works tirelessly to match companies with startup funding. Out of its latest class of around 40 students, 10 have already launched companies, the site reports.

Michigan is not the only state reaching out to small businesses. Recently, Kentucky approved an incentive to spur hiring for nearly 250 companies that would create 6,900 jobs under the Kentucky Business Investment Program, the Lane Report writes.