COVID-19 Update to MVT-Area Businesses
Saturday March 21, 2020
As an update to the COVID-19 message to MVT-area businesses released yesterday, March 20, last night Mayor Bowser shared preliminary details for the microgrant program to assist small businesses financially impacted by the coronavirus public health emergency. Review the image below for preliminary program details; the application will be available Tuesday, March 24 at https://coronavirus.dc.gov/recovery-business.
And if you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to share feedback in one or both of these surveys from the DC Policy Center and Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) in support of quantifying the impact of COVID-19 on your business and getting you the resources needed to weather this emergency:
- DC Policy Center Survey
- RAMW Survey (restaurants only)
Released March 20, 2020
The Mount Vernon Triangle CID (MVT CID) is acutely aware of the extraordinarily tremendous pressures being faced by our small and local restaurants and retailers as well as hospitality businesses—and are committed to serving as a resource for the dissemination of information about your offerings to customers as well as the financial relief being made available to businesses and employees.
In addition to providing ongoing and essential clean, safe and public works services throughout our community, MVT CID is also continuing to work alongside our DC Business Improvement District colleagues and commercial counterparts to package COVID-19 information resources from the District government to our stakeholders.
To that end below is a summary update on the status of current local and Federal relief efforts both in-place and underway. MVT CID extends its thanks for Kevin Wrege of Pulse Advocacy for providing much of the content that has been extracted for this update. Kevin has graciously offered to help business owners navigate these resources on a one-off or group basis (to the extent there is larger interest) so kindly let us know if his services would be useful and the call(s) will be arranged as needed.
FUNDING ASSISTANCE FOR BUSINESSES
SBA Loan Program (Status: In-Place)
- The federal Small Business Administration (SBA) has accepted the District’s declaration for assistance in the form of economic injury disaster loans.
- DC-based businesses can now apply for up to $2 million in loan assistance; visit the Recovery For Businesses page on coronavirus.dc.gov for additional details.
- Interest rates on the loans range from 2.75% for non-profits and 3.75% for small businesses and can be amortized over 30 years.
- SBA emphasizes that for applications to be acted upon timely, they must be completed in their entirety including all required attachments. Failing to do so could move applications to the back of the line and delay their consideration for weeks.
- NOTE: Mayor Bowser advised late afternoon Thursday, March 19 that it is best to complete the SBA loan application process on a computer, ideally using the Internet Explorer, rather than via mobile device.
Local Small Business Grant Assistance (Status: In-Progress)
- Included in the emergency legislative package passed by the DC Council on Tuesday, March 17 was authority enabling the Mayor to create a grant relief program for area small businesses.
- The Deputy Mayor for Planning & Economic Development (DMPED) is the agency responsible for creating, implementing and overseeing this program.
- Current expectations are for published guidance on the grants to be released online late this evening March 20, and that the grant application will be available online next week late Monday, March 23 or early Tuesday, March 24.
- NOTE: Per DMPED this grant program should not require additional application support materials beyond those necessary to apply for the SBA COVID-19 loan.
UNEMPLOYMENT ASSISTANCE FOR WORKERS
- The DC Department of Employment Services (DOES) advises that its online portal is the fastest way for eligible residents to file for District unemployment compensation— and asks for the public’s patience as it is experiencing unprecedented numbers of citizens who are currently filing for unemployment assistance.
ADDITIONAL PROGRAMS & RESOURCES
- The DC Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking (DISB) provides and participates in existing programs and resources to assist small business owners. Businesses that apply for an SBA COVID-19 loan will have gathered most of the information they will need to apply for DISB’s companion loan offering, the DC BizCap Collateral Support Program.
- The DC Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs has announced that any business licenses, professional/occupational licenses, vending licenses, etc. that expire during the District’s declared emergency will be considered valid, and businesses will have until 45 days after the declared emergency is over to renew their licenses.
- SBA offers a number of local affiliated technical assistance centers serving small business owners in the District.
YOUR FEEDBACK REQUESTED
As stated earlier, we understand that this is a very trying time for you and your employees. But do know there are organizations fighting to get the resources you need to weather this emergency—and that doing so requires input from you to assess and quantify to policymakers COVID-19’s impact on your business. To that end our partners at the DC Policy Center and Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) have asked MVT CID to assist by disseminating the following two surveys to our business stakeholders. The survey information will be used in slightly different ways so it is important that you or someone on your staff take them both to the extent you are able to do so.
- DC Policy Center Survey
- RAMW Survey (restaurants only)
STAY INFORMED AT CORONAVIRUS.DC.GOV
As a reminder, the District government has created the website coronavirus.dc.gov as a vehicle to provide real-time public updates on the COVID-19 public health emergency within the DC area. Please continue to use this resource for information on:
- the operating status of District government services by agency;
- recovery resources for businesses and individuals;
- meal sites for students and seniors; and
- COVID-19 data and resources.
MVT CID will also continue to disseminate critical information as necessary, and encourages you to never hesitate to contact us directly if we can assist in any way.
