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From YouTube: Board Wrap-Up: Small Business GRANT
Description
A wrap-up of decisions made at Arlington County Government’s September 2021 Board meeting.
A
Welcome
back
to
county
board
wrap
up,
and
this
month's
big
story
some
much
needed
financial
assistance
for
arlington
small
businesses.
It's
all
part
of
a
new
round
of
aed's
small
business
grant
program.
I'm
joined
now
by
board
chair
matt
d
ferrante,
as
well
as
special
guest
telly
tucker
of
arlington
economic
development
telly.
I
think
this
is
one
of
the
first
times
we've
had
a
special
guest
here
on
county
board
rep,
so
welcome.
Thank
you,
but
matt,
we'll
start
with
you
for
those
who
may
not
remember.
A
B
Sure
I
think
just
over
the
year
or
so
we
we've
it's.
We
need
to
remember
how
hard
it
was
in
those
initial
days
economically
in
addition
to
on
our
health,
so
we
helped
over
300
businesses,
I
think
in
the
390
range
and
with
targeted
grants
that
were
10
000
or
less
and
this.
B
I
really
think
that
this
was
a
better
set
of
assistance
than
we
saw
at
the
federal
level
with
the
ppp
and
even
the
state
stuff
that
we've
seen
to
this
point,
because
it's
really
focused
on
small
businesses,
and
we
know
that
if
we
help
a
small
business,
that
business
will
survive
and
then
it
will
help
other
parts
of
the
economy,
their
employees
etc.
So
I
thought
it
was
a
great
beast
credit
to
telly
and
his
team.
B
A
And
telly
kind
of
take
us
forward
to
today.
You
know
for
a
lot
of
people,
while
there's
still
a
lot
of
concern
with
coronavirus.
We
are
starting
to
see
things
like
restaurants,
open
up
we're
starting
to
see
a
larger
capacity.
So
what
necessitated
this
second
round
of
grants
for
arlington
small
businesses?
It's
a.
C
Really
good
question
and
the
pandemic
has
gone
on
for
18
months
now,
there's
still
quite
a
few
small
businesses
out
there
that
are
having
a
really
difficult
time.
Many
of
those
small
businesses
are
still
being
impacted
by
customers,
inability
to
come
into
their
space
or
limited
number
of
customers
able
to
come
into
their
space.
C
They
have
escalating
costs
associated
with,
with
back
rent,
for
example,
trying
to
repay
what
they
were
not
able
to
pay
last
year
during
this
time,
and
we
still
have
a
significant
number
of
businesses
that
were
not
able
to
access,
federal
or
state
dollars,
which
is
a
key
difference
in
this
year's
grant,
as
opposed
to
what
we
did
last
year,
and
so
this
grant
really
does
try
to
target
those
businesses.
Tell.
A
Me
a
little
bit
of
how
we're
what
kinds
of
businesses
we're
talking
about
when
we
say
and
how
your
the
teams
plans
to
specifically
target
those
businesses
in
this.
C
Round
we've
been,
we've
been
characterizing
them,
as
maybe
some
of
arlington's
hardest
to
reach
businesses.
We
have
identified
certain
sectors:
sectors
like
restaurants,
retail,
some
personal
service,
those
who
have
a
physical
bricks
and
mortar
location
in
arlington.
We
know
that's
a
fixed
cost
every
month,
regardless
of
whether
one
customer
comes
in
or
not,
and
those
expenses
don't
go
away.
C
So
we're
really
trying
to
target
those
businesses
that
have
additional
costs
associated
associated
with
a
bricks
and
mortar
presence,
and
we
have
actually
taken
a
step
back
to
try
to
reach
them
in
more
traditional
ways
where
normally
we
would
do
something
on
on
a
website
or
social
media.
We've
actually
been
using
things
like
yard
signs
and
mailings.
C
We've
had
a
lot
of
success,
reaching
businesses
that
way
that
don't
always
appear
when
we
do
something
online
or
when
we
have
a
webinar
that
sort
of
thing,
so
those
are
ways
in
which
we're
reaching
them,
and
we
hope
that
it
that
it
will
continue
to
be
successful.
Like
some
of
the
other
programs,
we've
had
the
relaunch
program
and
some
of
our
technical
assistance
programs
as
well.
What.
A
C
Overwhelmingly,
the
the
feedback
that
we
got
from
the
business
that
received
grants
was
positive.
More
than
90
of
those
businesses
are
still
in
business
today.
Many
of
them
describe
the
grant
as
a
lifeline
for
them.
It
helped
bridge
a
gap
and
get
them
to
a
point
of
sustainability.
They
were
able
to
to
pay
salaries.
They
were
able
to
keep
certain
employees
benefits
in
place
during
a
really
tough
time
where
they
otherwise
would
not
have
been
able
to
do
so,
and
that's
exactly
what
it
was
there
for.
C
We
had
other
businesses
tell
us
they
were
able
to
pay
back
rent,
for
example,
and
which
is
really
tough.
It's
tough
on
the
business,
it's
tough
on
the
property
owner,
the
landlord
as
well,
and
so
we
were
just.
We
were
delighted
that
we
were
able
to
provide
something
to
really
be
a
kind
of
bridge
that
gap
and
be
a
solution
in
a
time
of
need.
A
B
Well,
I
think
that
we
heard
the
success
of
the
first
round,
but
many
of
us
had
hoped
that
labor
day
would
be
the
time
when
we
would
open
back
up
and
getting
the
resources
as
quickly
as
we
can
out
to
small
businesses
can
help
bridge
that
gap
over
the
coming
months.
We're
going
to
get
we're
going
to
get
through
the
delta
part
variant
part
of
this,
but
we
had.
B
We
really
felt
like
it
was
important
to
to
help
with
a
small
amount
of
funding
focused
on
labor
costs
that
can
just
bridge
that
gap
of
those
two
or
three
months
as
we
get
into
early
next
year.
When
we
know
we
won't
have
coveted
completely
gone,
but
we
we
are
confident
that
we'll
make
additional
progress
and
that's
why
the
speed
of
getting
this
these
resources
out
to
small
businesses
was
important
and.
A
Speaking
of
the
coved
there
are,
there
is
going
to
be
special
consideration
for
those
following
covid
protocols.
Can
you
both
talk
a
little
bit
about
that.
B
We
wanted
to
to
set
the
tone
that
our
small
businesses
would
receive
this
grant
with
a
question
with
two
questions:
one:
have
you
already
vaccinated
all
employees,
or
would
you
commit
to
planning
to
do
that
and
that's
part
of
an
effort
just
to
recognize
the
reality
that
this
arlington
is
doing
relatively
well?
We
have
in
the
low
30s
cases
of
the
delta
variant
as
of
this
today,
but
I
think
we
still
have
to
make
sure
that
we
stamp
it
out
and
get
back
to
that
really
low
level.
C
In
addition
to
to
consistency
with
policy
across
you
know
what
the
county's
requiring
of
its
employees
of
its
contractors
will
give
funding
priority
to
those
businesses
that
either
already
do
require
their
employees
to
be
vaccinated
or
willing
to,
and
I
think
when
you
think
about
the
strategically
about
the
purpose
of
the
grant.
It
is
coveted
relief
and
our
our
ultimate
goal
is
that
this
pain
we
get
this
pandemic
behind
us.
A
Absolutely
now
this
fund,
this
is
coming
from
federal
arpa
funds,
two
million
dollars
to
help
200
small
businesses
receive
these
grants
of
10
000
dollars
for
the
program.
Telly
tell
us,
of
course,
the
big
question:
how
can
they
take
advantage
of
this
offer.
C
Sure
so
today
they
can
go
on
the
economic
development
website
if
they
or
they
can
call
our
office
and
get
on
the
list.
The
mailing
list
we're
going
to
be
going
through
a
period
of
about
two
weeks
of
advertising
and
marketing,
really
trying
to
drum
up
energy
and
and
interest
in
the
program
and
then
there'll
be
a
period
when
they,
when
it
goes,
live
and
you'll
have
to
submit
an
online
application.
That'll
stay
open
for
about
14
days,
and
then
businesses
will
be
able
to.
You
can
do
it
directly
from
your
phone.
A
That
moves
very
quickly
all
right
and
it's
going
to
be,
as
you
said,
matt
a
lifeline
for
many
of
our
small
businesses
who
really
make
up
kind
of
the
character
of
arlington's
community
telly.
Thank
you
very
much
and
of
course,
always
a
reason.
Another
reason
to
shop,
local
and
support
our
small
businesses
and,
of
course
there
is
plenty
more
to
discuss
from
this
month's
board
meeting
and
that's
where
we're
now.