Gov. Charlie Baker is scheduled to make an announcement at 10 a.m. today about a new round of small business grants to be once again administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation.
Unlike the program run by MGCC last year, which provided millions in support to hundreds of small businesses, the grant pool this year will be smaller and more limited in scope.
Chamber's food assistance program kicks into high gear
Our partners at the Rotary Club of Newton have been busy coordinating the delivery of 500-plus meals weekly from local independent restaurants to the Newton Food Pantry, Centre Street Food Pantry, Arabic Baptist Church, Welcome Home and the West Suburban YMCA.
It’s all part of the chamber’s’ program that provides financial support for struggling restaurants and healthy meals to those facing food insecurity.
Recent deliveries included meals from Johnny’s Luncheonette, Baramor, Tartufo, Anna’s Taqueria, Corner Café, Ellana’s Kitchen, Boca Bella, Blue Ribbon BBQ and Jake’s Falafel.
And thanks to efforts by Maura Renzella, Wellesley families in need will enjoy hot restaurant meals starting this week from restaurant partners including Amarin of Thailand, Wellesley North End Pizza and Cheesy Street Grill.
Our Nourishing Newton and Nourishing Wellesley programs were both funded by state earmarks secured by Sen. Cindy Creem. We’ve also received a generous contribution from Tripadvisor and many individuals which is allowing us to run similar efforts in Needham and, soon, Watertown.
Earlier this month the Center at the Heights hosted a Meet and Greet pasta lunch from Hearth Pizzeria with the Needham Police for seniors to become familiar with town departments and services available. Quarterly lunches will continue to support our residents with delicious meals, good conversations and a point of connection to important town services.
And we’re gearing up to launch this program in Watertown too. If you are an independent Watertown restaurant and would like participate (restaurants are paid for all meals) reach out to Katherine Herer.
If you’re able help support extending this program financially in any of our four communities go here. 100% of your contribution will go to local restaurants to feed residents facing food insecurity. Contributions are not tax deductible. Email me for information.
Restaurants seek SBA grants awarded, then withdrawn A group of small-business owners that were promised grants under the SBA’s Restaurant Revitalization Fund, only to have them taken away, are ready to head to court to get their promised relief.
The issue dates back to last summer when the Biden administration first announced that restaurants owned by women, veterans and socially or economically disadvantaged people would get a first chance to apply to the RRF, reports Andy Medici for the BBJ.
But the preferential policy was challenged by a conservative group in Texas (lead by former Trump aide Stephen Miller), resulting in nearly 3,000 "priority applicants" not getting their grants before the RRF ran out of cash.
"The SBA’s rescission of funds from the priority awardees is an unlawful agency action that has a discriminatory impact on priority awardees. The priority awardees did not design the program or set the rules for eligibility—the SBA did. The priority awardees followed all requirements set by the SBA, were awarded grants, and then had those grants rescinded," wrote the restaurant owners seeking a settlement.
Talks to replenish the RRF and restore ERTC continue
There were actually hundreds of thousands of restaurants nationwide -- including many in our communities -- that qualified for the RRF before the the initial $28.6 billion was exhausted.
And there's still some hope that Congress might include funds for all those restaurants that qualified for the RRF, according to the Hill.
The same article notes that there’s a separate effort underway to retroactively restore the Employee Retention Tax Credit for the last three months of 2021.
The Q4 2021 ERTC had been repealed to help fund the federal infrastructure bill.
Needham PD settle into new HQ
The Needham Police Department has moved from its temporary location at the former Hillside School to its new headquarters at 88 Chestnut Street.
Construction of the police station was the final phase of a project that included building a new fire station headquarters, a new Fire Station #2 and upgrading public safety communications systems.
Production house wants to make your nonprofit’s next video… for free
They’ve offered to make a video – pro bono -- for an area nonprofit with an annual operating budget under $500,000.
“Our goal is to provide high quality video messaging for an organization that could otherwise not afford it,” says Last Minute’s Jay Dobek. Details.
YardArt is coming back bigger
The second annual outdoor art exhibition YardArt returns to Watertown March 4-April 3. “There was so much enthusiasm for last years’ event,” Barbara Epstein, a founder of YardArt tells Watertown News. “This year will be bigger and better, with the addition of three creative workshops and more walking and biking tours based on our map of installations. Plus with Covid hanging around, it’s a safe community event that gets people out of their houses.”
Happening this afternoon at 12:30
Get Konnected! is hosting a virtual fireside chat today (Weds) at 12:30 p.m. celebrating the brilliance and resilience of Boston’s Black Businesses – “From Adversity to Opportunity – How Black Businesses Pivoted and Thrived During the Pandemic.” Register
We Rock our 100th Wellesley member
Just a few weeks after the one year anniversary of our expansion into Wellesley, we've just welcomed our 100th Wellesley chamber member.
And its an interesting one: We Rock the Spectrum is a kid’s gym that offers a specifically designed space to aid children with sensory processing disorders. Learn more here.
Greater Boston doesn’t just have bad drivers
We also have bad passengers.
That’s according to just released data from Uber, which for the first time last week, released a tool allows us to see how drivers reviewed their passengers.
“The information could be startling for people who think they've been given five-star ratings each time,” writes Alex Halverson for the BBJ.
(I suspect there's some restaurant workers who'd love the chance to give their customers Yelp reviews.)
Based on average passenger scores. Boston was ranked fourth among the worst-rated cities, behind New York, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
Uber said the best ways to improve your rating are to not leave trash behind, buckle your seatbelt, be on time, treat the driver with respect and don't slam the door on your way out.
