Digital Main Street Ontario Grants Program 4.0
Helping Small Businesses Grow by Adopting Digital Tools & Technologies
Welcome to Digital Main Street
The application portal for the Digital Transformation Grant is now closed. We thank all businesses that participated in the program and congratulate those that received a grant!
Digital Main Street is an active and progressive program focused on helping small businesses adopt digital tools and technologies and embrace digital marketing.
The program is based on three important components:
- Knowledge transfer through online training and assessments
- Resources including Digital Transformation Grants, and
- Support through Digital Service Squads, a team of trained digital technology specialists that provide businesses with the hands-on support and guidance needed to begin their digital transformation.
Digital Main Street (DMS) was created and launched by the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA) in 2016 with direct support from the City of Toronto. The program is also supported by a group of strategic partners including: Google, Mastercard, Shopify, Microsoft, Facebook, Intuit QuickBooks, Square, and Lightspeed.
The Digital Main Street Initiative
In 2018, with the foresight of the need to help main street small businesses be more resilient, the Government of Ontario funded the expansion of Digital Main Street, a $12 million multi-faceted program to help main street small businesses adopt and use digital technologies more effectively. In 2020, the Government of Ontario and the Federal Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) stepped up with new funding to extend the program to March 2021. Subsequently, on July 1, 2021, the Government of Ontario again extended funding for the Ontario Grants Program to provide Digital Transformation Grants to small businesses and Digital Service Squad grants to municipalities, BIAs, Chambers and Small Business Enterprise Centres.
Now, as businesses continue to re-open and look to the future with more optimism and confidence, the Government of Ontario is acknowledging the short- and long-term value of Digital Main Street in helping businesses digitally transform by investing an additional $40 million in the program, including Digital Service Squads, ending March 31, 2024. This new funding better positioned Ontario businesses to compete at home and abroad by providing them with access to training, grants, and Digital Service Squad support.
See the letter from the Board of the Ontario BIA Association to the Province of Ontario on the wind down of the Ontario Grants Program portion of Digital Main Street.
Digital Main Street Program, as provided by the Toronto Association of BIAs continues to provide support, go to https://digitalmainstreet.ca/
Digital Transformation Grants
The Digital Transformation Grant application portal is now closed and the grant funds have been fully exhausted.
Since 2018, the Digital Main Street Digital Transformation Grant program has successfully provided more than 16,000 Ontario small businesses with a $2,500 grant to support their digital expansion through the purchase and adoption of digital tools and technologies in all reaches of the Province of Ontario or what amounts to a $37.9 million investment.
Digital Service Squad Grants:
The Application Portal for Digital Main Street’s Digital Service Squad Program is now closed and the grant funds have been fully exhausted.
Digital Service Squads (DSS) – teams of digital technology specialists who deliver one-on-one assistance to main street small businesses. DSS have been set up by BIAs, municipalities, Chambers of Commerce, Boards of Trade, and Small Business Enterprise Centres. This program recognized the actual need of small business, which is personal support. With the Ontario Grants Program funding 326 grants throughout 229 municipalities across the province this meant that more than 82,000 businesses were given personal support. A $17.8 million investment, from the Province of Ontario, generated 815 jobs to support brick-and-mortar small businesses.
Many of our squad members were given a first job opportunity which catapulted many of the squad members to full-time positions in Municipalities, BIAs and in digital technologies.