From the Mayor’s workplace:
“Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Workplace of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Financial Growth (DMPED) launched the software for the $29.5 million Leisure Bridge Fund, which can present grants ranging between $10,000-$250,000 for leisure venues grappling with the COVID-19 public well being emergency. The Leisure Bridge Fund is a part of The Bridge Fund, a $100 million initiative aimed toward offering monetary reduction to the resort, restaurant, retail, and leisure sectors.
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“Our reside leisure venues have been the primary companies impacted at first of the pandemic, and sure would be the final again,” stated Mayor Bowser. “These companies, that are on the very coronary heart our native tradition and sound, have made super sacrifices to maintain our residents secure. The Leisure Bridge Fund goals to offer them with help to make sure they will make it to the opposite aspect after we can collect once more safely.”
Earlier this 12 months, the Council of the District of Columbia handed the “Enterprise Assist Grants Emergency Modification Act of 2020,” which approved as much as $100 million from the federal CARES Act to offer COVID-19 associated reduction to companies. In November, Mayor Bowser introduced The Bridge Fund to strategically spend money on companies and workers within the hospitality, restaurant, leisure, and retail sectors to assist mitigate the continuing influence of COVID-19 on staff and companies. The District has begun accepting purposes for the $30 million Lodge Bridge Fund, the $35 million Restaurant Bridge Fund, and the $15 million Retail Bridge Fund.
“Our leisure venues have been the primary to shut as we labored to mitigate the impacts of this pandemic,” stated Deputy Mayor for Planning and Financial Growth John Falcicchio. “Because the District strikes nearer to getting again to regular, our hope is that the Leisure Bridge Fund will assist a few of our hardest hit entrepreneurs and staff get to the opposite aspect of the pandemic.”
The Leisure Bridge Fund will encompass two packages, the Venues Program and the Supporting Enterprise Program. The Venues Program will present funding to venues which have both briefly suspended operations for the reason that public well being emergency or have been in a position to function at a minimal capability. This program will assist maintain companies that host quite a few and numerous experiences for District residents and guests to get pleasure from. The Assist Companies Program, anticipated to launch in January 2021, will present funding to companies within the leisure business that depend on reside occasions and tourism to have the ability to function.
Eligible companies for the Venues Program embrace reside music venues and live performance halls, bars, nightclubs, billiard parlors, film theaters, bowling alleys, personal museums, skating rinks, theaters, arenas, efficiency and occasion venues, in addition to specialty expertise venues. Companies that both obtain devoted tax income or are completely closed aren’t eligible for the fund. Award selections will probably be based mostly on core operational bills, income, and tenure.
DMPED will focus on the Leisure Bridge Fund throughout its Restoration Weekly Verify-In on Tuesday, December 22, at 4:00 p.m. on Channel 16 (DCN) and streaming on Twitter and Facebook. Potential candidates are inspired to attend both of two info classes scheduled to happen the final week of December. The registration hyperlink for the knowledge classes may be discovered at coronavirus.dc.gov/bridgefund. The applying deadline for the Leisure Bridge Fund is Monday, January 11, 2021.
For the reason that COVID-19 public well being emergency started in March, the District has made out there greater than $45 million to help small and native companies and nonprofits by way of varied funding alternatives, together with the DC Small Business Microgrant Program, the Ward 7 and eight Microgrant Program, the Small Business Resiliency Fund, DC Child Care Provider Relief Fund, the Legacy Business Supplemental Microgrant Program, and the Streatery Winter Ready Grant Program (in partnership with Mayor’s Workplace of Nightlife and Tradition). For extra info on the Bridge Fund, go to coronavirus.dc.gov/bridgefund.”
