 Good afternoon Fort Worth and thanks for tuning in. On behalf of Mayor Price and the leadership of the City of Fort Worth, I thank you for taking the time today to be with us. The Mayor has asked today that I brief you on the update of what's going on in the community regarding the COVID-19 virus and then I'm going to introduce a colleague of mine Robert Stearns who is going to share with you the efforts that the city has put together with the Small Business and Economic Recovery Committee and their efforts. So in Fort Worth currently we're starting to see a trend upwards. There's 114 current cases that we're aware of here in Tarrant County with approximately 40 of those being in Fort Worth. We're seeing about a 23% increase each day now so we're just now starting to see that curve increase and we expect that by the end of the day those numbers will be actually higher. It's the real reason that we're coming before you with these numbers is to assure you that it's still important to stay inside to be mindful of the Mayor's request that we keep separation and we good that we use good hand hygiene. We also recognize that there's a lot of questions out there and that the uncertainty of the situation brings. There's a lot of community support, folks in the community that are helping the elderly where they can with shopping, folks doing neighborhood drive-by birthday parties, so folks are kicking in and doing things to try to help with the recovery but not just the folks in their mental health and getting together having as much as possible where they are keeping separation but they're able to still communicate and not feel so isolated. The parks, the trails while they still remain open the thing about it is you got to make sure that you talk to each other as you're passing to try to maintain that social isolation and make sure that you don't have an unnecessary community spread of the virus. When running or walking make sure that you're taking care of each other. Make sure that you be prepared for heading outdoors to avoid water fountains to avoid the restrooms. While we know it's been difficult with the schools being closed we also strongly recommend that you avoid the playgrounds and other park amenities at this point in time. Lastly you have to do your best with on the trails and the amount of time that you're on the trails in order to allow others to be on the trails as well. So as long as people comply with these rules all of these things will remain open. We don't see any need at this point in time to close those outdoor activities to allow folks to get out of their homes but there still has to be the opportunity for you to maintain distance because that is the only way we're going to continue to try to prevent an higher increase than the 23% that we're currently seeing. So with that I'm going to turn it over to Robert Stearns. Like I said he's going to explain to you the city's attempts to work with the business community and set up an economic recovery advisory committee. So Robert if you don't mind coming in. Thank you chief good afternoon. I just want to spend a few moments talking about some of the efforts that the city is undertaking to assist our business community as they deal with the challenges from the COVID-19 epidemic. We realize that this is an extremely challenging time for our business owners as they try to adjust to their new normal. Let me say that the city's economic development department along with our partners at the Chambers of Commerce, Visit Fort Worth and other organizations are working diligently to share all the tools and resources out there for business owners as they become available. One extremely important resource that I want to make sure you're aware of to keep up with this situation as it unfolds is the city's COVID-19 page for business owners. This information can be accessed at Fort Worth, Texas dot gov back slash COVID-19-business and it is updated on almost daily basis with new programs that are being put into place. These range from financial assistance programs, information on unemployment benefits and shared work programs, utility and tax relief options and business continuity plans. The city also released a survey last week which has gotten over 1200 responses and by far the most pressing issue that we're hearing about is related to financial assistance. In particular we are getting a lot of questions about the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program. As you know the state of Texas became eligible for these funds last Friday which provides up to two million dollars in loans for businesses impacted by COVID-19. The Terrence Small Business Development Center and SCORE, both located at the city's Business Assistance Center, are providing webinars on how to complete the application and I encourage you all to take advantage of these organizations as a resource to complete the process. Now as you can imagine given the level of interest in the program it can be sometimes difficult to access the SVA's web page but the application forms can be submitted online so you can still complete all of your paperwork and submit the application even if you're having issues with the website. However the EIDL funds are not the only resource that are available to business owners. The SVA has a number of loan programs that are available today with loans ranging from $25,000 through the ExpressBridge loan program through funds up to five million dollars through the 7a program. There are also a number of local initiatives underway such as the Artist Relief Fund which is being led by Visit Fort Worth and United Way and the Assist Her Grant program for women-owned business owners recently launched by Texas Women's University. The city is also looking at putting together a loan package for small businesses impacted by this pandemic. Again all this information can be found on the city's COVID-19 web page and we are pushing these updates out on the city's economic development Facebook page so you can also find information there as well. Just this morning the mayor convened a small business and economic recovery advisory committee comprised of our partner organizations lending institutions at the business community to ensure that we have a clear understanding of the economic impacts and to provide some policy recommendations to our city council as we go forward in the days and weeks ahead. This is going to be a really important effort to ensure that we can stabilize our businesses in the short term and provide an efficient and streamlined process when businesses are allowed to reopen. I've been particularly encouraged by our business owners that have reached out about assisting the health department in our testing processes repurposing their manufacturing operations to produce medical supplies and opening their facilities for our first responders but we all realize that this is not a short-term issue and we are going to have to be as flexible and as innovative as we can be in order to ensure the health of our business community. If you have any questions comments or concerns please feel free to reach out to the Economic Development Department and we'll be more than happy to assist you or get you connected to the appropriate resources. Thank you. Okay I'll turn back over to you. So Robert thank you. As we ended I'd like to encourage everybody to take Robert up on some of the things that he's talked about to make sure that you're considering the restaurants in the community the small businesses in the community that have been deemed essential. Eat out, support those businesses with that are have take out menus available. I'd also like to personally thank the folks over at TX Whiskey. Today they have reached out to the fire department and the police department here and they have shut it down their their processes but what they've done is they've turned around and they've reopened to make a hand sanitizer and so we have been able to use them and we really appreciate all the efforts that they have brought forward to help us make sure that hand sanitizer is available and through the different areas of the city that actually need them. So thanks again to those folks at TX. So again as we close let us know what questions you have. Take care of each other and in the words of the mayor, y'all stay safe, y'all stay healthy, and y'all stay home. Good night.