$250,000 prize lets Robot Garage expand its kid engineer biz

The Robot Garage in Birmingham is the winner of a $250,000 prize that will give the company owners the financial boost needed to expand staff and programming and put finishing touches on a renovated classroom space as they try to reach more kids -- and adults -- looking to use their brains, hands and free time building Legos, robots and engineering minds.

The prize comes from Chase Bank's Mission Main Streets Grants program. The Robot Garage, which opened in 2012 in Birmingham's burgeoning Rail District, was one of two metro Detroit businesses in the group of 12 winners from across the country.

The other metro Detroit winning company was Edibles Rex, which provides healthy, fresh foods to schools, day care businesses, and other places that feed children.

It's an amount of money that can transform a small business forever. It's the intent of the contest to provide small businesses with cash infusions to help them do things that might not be affordable for years to come, if ever.

"This will do so much to turn still-unrealized dreams into a reality," says Robot Garage co-founder and co-owner Sarah Jacobs.

Source: Chase Mission Main Streets and Robot Garage
Writer: Kim North Shine
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