As we've long advised, the winter months and the second wave of the pandemic will pose tremendous challenges to the restaurant community here in DC. Today, though, CPA Eats clients have a big reason to celebrate in the form of the Business Support Grants Amendment Act's Bridge Fund, a $100 million grant hugely aimed at hospitality businesses in the city.
Applications for the funds will come available in December, and we'll be actively monitoring Bridge Fund progress to make applications for all clients as soon as they're available. We're thankful to our partners at RAMW for their diligent work advocating for DC's restaurant community - find their full breakdown of the initial news below. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out. We'll continue to update you as the process unfolds.
Dear DC Operator,
We had a HUGE WIN in DC today, and want to share the good news immediately with you. Today, Mayor Bowser funded the Business Support Grants Amendment Act, which creates a $100 million grant program for small businesses impacted by COVID-19 and the Public Health Emergency. Named The Bridge Fund, this grant is specifically created to support the industries that have been the hardest hit by the economic effects of the pandemic, which include restaurants, hotels, entertainment and retail. Restaurants are the largest portion of the grant awards, with $35 million going to support our industry. Of this 35%, 15% is specifically set aside for small businesses owned by women and minorities.
We should all thank Councilmember McDuffie (kmcduffie@dccouncil.us) who introduced this legislation and worked with us closely throughout the process to ensure our industry was supported in a meaningful way. He has been a huge champion of restaurants, bars and the small business community and consistently listens to what is most needed. And a huge thank you to Mayor Bowser for taking the important steps to fund this legislation to provide additional support for our community, especially now as we go through a very difficult time the next 4-5 months.
The Bridge FundClick here to see the details of the Fund breakdown. Below is a summary of the key points for restaurants:- $35 Million of the grant is dedicated to restaurants, which is the largest portion of the $100 million at 35%.
- Grants for restaurants will be awarded in amounts ranging from $10,000 to $50,000.
- Grants will be awarded to roughly 700 businesses.
- Hotels will be the first industry application to open next week as a portion of the Hotel $30M is funded by DC’s CARES Act funds and must be used before the end of the calendar year.
- Restaurants and other sector applications will open over the next 5 weeks.
- Businesses should use this time to gather documents to streamline their application process. The District will be looking for the same documents that were required for previous grants administered this year.
We are awaiting further details on the eligibility requirements as they will differ from industry to industry, and we will update you as soon as we have further information. For now, we applaud this great effort which we know will immensely help DC operators and will be much needed financial relief as you head into these uncertain winter months. Click here to read more in the Washington Business Journal’s coverage of this announcement.
Finally, we all owe a big thank you to Andrew Kline and his team at Veritas who have been working tirelessly alongside RAMW on all relief we have had to push our leaders to consider thus far for our DC operators.