D.C. kicked off its Small Business Week on Monday, with a ribbon-cutting and an announcement of dozens of grants for small businesses in the city. On Rhode Island Avenue, Mayor Muriel Bowser and others cut the ribbon, to open the newly renovated offices of Bandura Designs.
The interior design company is one of several along Rhode Island Avenue to benefit from the city’s Robust Retail grants.
“We are starting today to bring our office to the next level along with this amazing thriving community here on Rhode Island Avenue,” said Jennifer Farris, owner of Bandura Designs.
“We’re grateful to our small business owners who serve us and who represent the best of D.C. values,” Bowser said.
The grants provide businesses with up to $10,000 in funding that can be used on anything from renovations to payroll. Bowser said that since 2019, $4 million of the grants have been awarded.
Bowser also announced that 64 more businesses will receive the grant money to help them operate and grow.
“Small businesses are truly the backbone of our local economy,” Council member Kenyan McDuffie said.
McDuffie, a native of D.C.’s Ward 5, said he remembers the days when fewer businesses called the now-bustling six-mile stretch of Rhode Island Avenue home.
“Today, with these additional investments that we’ve been making, you see the build out of wonderful businesses,” McDuffie said.
The city’s D.C. Main Street program, which provides services and funding to D.C.’s 28 non-profit led programs to revitalize the neighborhood and business corridor, has also helped.
“The real spirit of the Main Street model is that nonprofits, local organizations start and fund their activities on local corridors, and they become the champions of the corridors,” Bowser said.
In the spirit of the week, which is all about small businesses, the city also announced events geared at helping small business owners:
- Power Up For Success: 2024 DC Small Business Summit and Expo, April 30, 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center
- Navigating the Landscape of Access to Capital for DC Small & Local Businesses, May 1, 2 p.m. – 5 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
- DC Small Business Week Pitch & Resource Exhibition, May 1, 9:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library
- #BeDowntown: CBE Celebration & Networking Reception, May 2, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m. at 555 12th Street NW
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