August 12, 2020

Phase 2:

Updates from Adams Morgan

Click Here to see previous updates in our newsletter archive

For the latest from the DC government, refer to: https://coronavirus.dc.gov

BID Tax Bills have been mailed

Restaurant Week Returns for Two Weeks:

August 17 - 30, 2020

Summer Restaurant Week, presented by the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW), returns as the region’s biannual celebration of outstanding restaurants that contribute so much to our region. New this year, Restaurant Week has expanded to include a to-go program with a variety of family-style offerings as well as cocktail and wine pairings, available over two full weeks to encourage support of hundreds of restaurants throughout DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia.

Participating restaurants will offer dinner menus at $35 or $55 per person. Similarly, many restaurants will also offer specially priced family-style to-go dinner meals, available at two price points intended to fit a range of budgets and tastes for curbside pickup. The to-go meals offer an even greater reason to take advantage of the promotion.

Some of your favorite Adams Morgan restaurants will be participating, including Grill from Ipanema , Mintwood Place , Spoken English , Brothers & Sisters , and Perry's . Click here for the full list of participating restaurants.



LISC Small Business Relief Grants

LISC is one of the country's largest social enterprises supporting projects and programs to revitalize underserved communities and bring greater economic opportunity to residents. LISC invests in affordable housing, quality schools, safer streets, growing businesses and programs that connect people with financial opportunity. In response to the pandemic, they are delivering resources and expertise to support communities, businesses and people. Learn more here .

Grant Application

The Round 5 application period is now closed.

Please register to be notified of the next round opening August 31st. For questions, please review our grant information and FAQ .

Update from RAMW

From Kathy Hollinger, President, RAMW

Private Events: As you continue to find new ways to reimagine your businesses models, we have received many questions regarding private events and how space may be utilized in safe and compliant ways. Here is a quick reminder of the guidance in DC:

As set forth by ABRA in their rulemaking, gatherings of no more than 50 people are allowed as long as it is 50% or less of your occupancy limit, and social distancing measures must be in place with no more than 6 people seated at a table. There cannot be a standing component to the event, and all guests must be seated.

Mayor Bowser released an updated list of high-risk states that require a mandatory 14-day quarantine for people who traveled to these states for nonessential reasons. I want to note that Delaware is no longer on this list. Click here for the list and to see what states were added and what states were removed.

LEGISLATIVE SUPPORT FOR BLACK AND MINORITY OWNED BUSINESSES :  As we have stated earlier, we are committed to addressing racial inequity in our industry and our approach is deliberate, intentional and ongoing. Our priority is and will continue to be to help our operators across the region provide safe and equitable spaces for Black and Minority owned businesses and their staff, and one deliberate way is to develop impactful public policy. We have worked closely with many elected officials to offer guidance on how to provide legislative solutions to address inequities in our city.  Despite a challenging budget, Councilmember McDuffie was able to fund some key policy objectives that resulted in an initial $7 million investment in racial equity. Below are a few key pieces relevant to the business community.

• Creates an Equity Impact Fund to provide access to capital for minority and women owned businesses.
• Establishes a new Certified Business Enterprise designation, Equity Impact Enterprises, to address structural impediments to opportunities faced by many women and minority owned businesses.
• Expands funding to equity impact enterprises in Wards 5, 7, and 8.
• Creates the Business Recovery Task Force to provide recommendations regarding the recovery of the District’s businesses following the end of the COVID-19 emergency.

For more information on this legislation please contact eden@ramw.org.

As we continue to work with legislators across the region, we will use tenants from DC’s initial efforts to ensure leaders are considering what may need to be considered as all small businesses are able to reopen, reset and recover.

On the national front, tune in for the latest National Restaurant Association 2-minute update on what is happening with relief efforts at the federal level, including Trump’s latest Executive Orders. Click here for the video . Also on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2 p.m.–3 p.m. EDT, Join Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of Public Affairs for the National Restaurant Association, for a comprehensive webinar overview of the latest restaurant relief programs from Congress. Click here to register .

I also want to take a few minutes to draw your attention to IRC and their potential ties with Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC). As you know, ROC is making a strong push to eliminate the tip credit across the country and is behind the One Fair Wage campaign. Last week IRC tweeted, "The road to a better future for the restaurant industry runs through independent restaurants--independent in every way from the low-road corporate chain lobbies that have worked to suppress worker wages and repress justice....saving independent restaurants is the essential 1st step in a high-road restaurant revolution that includes ending the legacy of slavery that is the subminimum wage for tipped workers..."  This was also retweeted by ROC.

At this time when business operations are so strained and you are struggling to employ people at any level, we stress the importance of allowing autonomy over your operations, and are concerned with IRC's tweet. While some of you are considering adopting any and all options as you try to keep your businesses and staff afloat, the choices on how to operate should always remain yours and not ever mandated or imposed by special interest organizations outside of our market, particularly during a pandemic while we are the most fragile financially and operationally. We share this information with you today, because IRC has brought a lot of positive attention to our industry since the pandemic struck, and we applaud and support them nationally for their valiant efforts,  but we want to make sure you are aware of the full picture as their narrative grows.  This is only a note about awareness for each of you as you are making decisions daily on how to sustain your operations.

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions at coronavirus@ramw.org.

Capital COVID Survey: Return to Work

Powered By the Greater Washington Partnership and EY :

The Capital Region needs your feedback to safely reopen.

We have heard directly from employers and transportation agencies across the Capital Region (including Washington, Baltimore, Richmond Metro Areas) that they need better insight into how organizations are planning to reopen worksites and how employers feel about the ability of transit agencies to safely return employees to worksites.

The public agencies, leading employers, business organizations, and non-profits listed below ask you to answer a brief 10-minute survey about your organization’s reopening plans. The goal is to share more information as a region so we can reopen worksites more safely, sustainably, and hopefully save lives.

Your answers will be kept confidential and only be viewed by our survey and research team at EY and the Greater Washington Partnership. Survey results will be reported in aggregate and your contact information will not be shared.

This survey should be completed by a staff member with the ability to answer or estimate return to worksite timelines and policies, COVID-19 testing plans, and employee transportation trends. We understand that items may be fluid, so please provide your best estimates.

We ask that you complete the survey no later than August 28th, 2020.

For additional information about this project, or if you require technical assistance with completing the survey, please contact Michael Castelli at Michael.Castelli@ey.com.

Thank you for your assistance in creating a stronger, safer, more informed region as we learn how to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic.

DC Minority Business Enterprise Needs Survey

As the District continues to reopen, CNHED wants to make sure that your business has the support and resources that you need to recover and grow your business for the long-term.

Please complete the survey to help us understand your business needs. All responses will remain confidential. Contact Evette Banfield if you have any questions at ebanfield@cnhed.org or 202.745.0902 ext. 203.

Access to Capital: Crowdfunding

Several businesses in the District have successfully utilized crowdfunding platforms to raise capital to fund starting or expanding their business. Join us for our summer bizchat series as we discuss how businesses can utilize crowdfunding to raise capital. You’ll learn:

• Different platforms you can use to raise capital
• Strategies to run a successful campaign
• Lessons from a business owner who have successfully raised capital

August 19, 2020 at 1:00 PM

Click Here to register

Training Opportunities for CBE and Eligible Businesses

The DC Sustainable Energy Utility (DCSEU) is excited to launch a new training, credentialing, and certification program for District Certified Business Enterprises (CBEs) and/or CBE-eligible firms called the Sustainable Energy Infrastructure Capacity Building and Pipeline Program (SEICBP Program). This program is designed to assist CBEs and CBE-eligible in acquiring new or enhanced skills and knowledge around energy efficiency and renewable energy design, construction, inspection, and maintenance.

All trainings and certification courses are offered at no cost to participants on a rolling basis. This program is designed to expand the local green workforce and local business opportunities.

Click here for more information and to sign up.

Join Destination DC for the annual Marketing Outlook Meeting!

You'll learn about:

• DC's recovery and resiliency efforts following the pandemic
• How to benefit from opportunities in the year ahead
• Virtual and hybrid initiatives across convention and tourism sales
• Hotel forecast from STR

This year's meeting is FREE to attend.

Please invite your colleagues, all are welcome!

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

8:30 a.m. | Digital networking & Discover the Real DC jams

9:00 - 10:30 a.m. | Program

Click Here for more information about the speakers.

Click Here to register.

Upcoming ABRA online training

ID Compliance

Foundation course focused on preventing the sale of alcohol to minors and intoxicated persons. Focus areas include applicable ABC laws and regulations, compliance checks, best practices, and tips for how to verify photo IDs.

• Thursday, September 10 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. OR 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, September 29 | 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. OR 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.

ABC 101 ( formerly New Licensee )

Foundation course designed to introduce prospective and new ABC license holders—specifically on-premises and off-premises retailers and manufacturers—to ABRA and key ABC basics. Established licensees are encouraged to attend to become reacquainted with changes in the alcohol laws and new opportunities.

• Tuesday, August 18 | 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
• Tuesday, September 22 | 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.

School for Liberation 3rd Thursday Teach In: The History of Policing

This Teach-in will chart a course through the history of American policing, from the earliest days of the Sheriff of Nottingham in England to today's quasi-military police force dominating the streets of the USA. Through this session we will explore how racism, anti-Semitism and anti-immigrant sentiment crystalized in early policing, how control of poor, non-white communities formed through the violent enforcement of Black Codes in the South and corruption and cronyism in the north, and finally how the supposedly new reform ideas of Black lives matter and #8toabolition can be traced back to recommendations from as early as the 1930s.

Thursday, August 20, 2020; 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM EDT

 Click Here to register



Have You Spotted the New Safety Signage in Adams Morgan?

You may have noticed our meme-like safety signage that has been installed throughout the neighborhood! With signs featuring Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (RBG), tons of cute puppies, and famous people named Ryan, it has certainly created a buzz both locally and nationally!

Due to the large volume of requests, the Adams Morgan Partnership BID is excited to offer the public an opportunity to purchase our health and safety signs for personal use. The signs are exactly the same as the ones posted around Adams Morgan and are approximately 24 inches by 18 inches. The signs do NOT come with the metal stakes (those are available at many hardware and craft stores). We expect orders to be ready within 1-3 weeks -- we do not have an active inventory -- signs are printed after they are ordered. Signs are available for shipping or local pick up. Please note that funds received above and beyond the cost of printing and shipping will be used to produce additional safety signage for our neighborhood in support of local businesses.

If you’d like to purchase a sign, please click here . Thanks for supporting local!

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES

Sponsor one of our community events! Partner with our community while reaching some of the city's most desirable demographics. For details, contact Kristen Barden at 202-997-0783.

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