 This program is brought to you by Cable Franchise V's and generous donations from viewers like you Good evening and welcome back to byline. It's been quite a while since we've Been together on Amherst media with the help of the Amherst League of Women Voters But here we are with a special edition of byline We're all struggling with social distancing and a lot of isolation and working from home I hope all of you are well feeling safe and having the support from friends and family and neighbors as we share the Really remarkable experience together and when I say remarkable I don't say that in the best sense of the word It is a really challenging time for us all and so I'm glad we get to spend a little bit of time with you this evening And we're going to do a special show this evening and the reason we decided to to come back into your homes Tonight is because our business community is suffering significantly and the economic development in this community which was Kind of on a roll for a while there has really been slowed down and and people are really worried about the future Not only of our health and our community, but also about the economics of our Community and so we have two guests with us this evening back by popular demand Gabrielle Gould who's the executive director of our local business improvement district And she's going to remind us in a minute what the business improvement district does and just a quick snapshot and Joining us for the first time is the executive director of the Amherst Chamber of Commerce Claudia Pazmani and we're welcoming both of you this evening and glad you're here. We're going to talk a little bit about What to the business of organizations here in town are doing to try to support our local Retail businesses both what's happening right now and what will be happening in the coming months So let's start with you Gabrielle. Could you just remind people what the business improvement district is? Absolutely, so we have a district that is sort of mapped out as the business improvement district And it is the downtown area of Amherst and I Jokingly say that my bosses are the landlords, but I work for the businesses our goal when I took over this position was to continue to create a vibrant downtown and to work on Amherst being a destination for both our year-round residents and tourists alike and COVID-19 has definitely shifted our Sort of, you know direction we are now working hand-in-hand on a daily basis with the Chamber of Commerce and We have blown down our boundaries and are working Together to look at Amherst businesses as a whole and how we can find relief and resiliency and return to whatever our new normal is going to be Great and also Let's just have a quick snapshot of our Chamber of Commerce Claudia give us the give us your elevator speech Well, thank you for having me. I really appreciate it So the mission of the Amherst area Chamber is to really create Maintain promote the vital and thriving business climate Throughout the Amherst area and the Amherst area includes Amherst, Adley, Belcher Town How long leveraged it's very Sunderland and so we're here to initiate support all the civic educational recreational economic well-being of the Amherst area, so But as Gabrielle said, you know, we're here to represent our membership in that area But we're also here in unity So in unity with this entire team. I'm getting some back from feedback. Are you hearing feedback? I'm hearing a little feedback too and perhaps the Technical people are in the background. They're working to make sure that our listeners don't hear the feedback Well, let's hope that's the case because if there's a problem. I assume they'll interrupt us so we can Try to fix the problem before we continue so let's let's refocus now on the question of What you're hearing from the business community and I know that There's a lot of interaction. I'm sure people calling your offices both the bid and the chamber But it's my understanding That the bid actually went out and did some survey work And that survey work might actually have been done before the coronavirus problems, you know, but so Gabrielle, why don't you tell us about the surveys that you were engaged in prior to connecting up with the chamber on the coronavirus work you're doing Absolutely Stan. So we ran a survey right when Amherst College and UMass decided to close their doors with our local just downtown businesses The chamber ran a survey about three weeks ago to the greater Amherst area And both of them have been invaluable to moving forward with State legislation working with the town and even federal Legislation we've been able to send a lot of information along to secretary kanile baker Our senators it's and rep minidom has been wonderful with us I will say that our very first survey came back with some incredibly dire numbers This was before there seemed to be any relief or resiliency coming Before the ppp before the idle before our foundation which we're going to get to with you And we had some staggering numbers of businesses saying that without relief and without help 70% did not think that they could make it through may we are at the beginning of may A lot has changed since then claudie and I love to use the word pivot We feel like that is all we are doing and our businesses are doing it as well Those who can come back online have done this the chambers Um Survey came back with not great numbers, but not as dire as the ppp loans and the idle loans came through But we're still looking at record numbers of layoffs, especially in the service in the retail industry Um, there are businesses that have been able to come back at some capacity To be clear. It is not Nearly the capacity that they need to to survive, but at least they're they're here But we have a lot of businesses who cannot come back based on the restrictions that are being um Passed down rightfully by governor baker. Um claudie. I'll let you talk a little bit about the survey that was second two hours Sure, I think we realized that relief was coming in, you know, and as that we saw things turn a little bit I should say though stepping back a little we really For people that don't know us And know the bit in the chamber we share an office. So the day we closed our our doors our physical doors We have been connected at the hip and have really supported one another in our efforts and also Really unified in in putting out efforts to support our businesses There all our lines have sort of been blurred and and we've just really tried to do what's best for our business owners period Not just for our our members, but for everyone that we can possibly support at this point. There's no one immune So the her the first numbers were really telling just to give us an inkling of you know, where The trauma was setting in But then we felt like we needed a second pulse because we did hear about more and more of our you know We've worked through them with them going through the ppp process And the state has been incredibly supportive because we had a bunch of folks who were stuck in that process and they needed help So we've been able to support them Um, you know, we basically have a steady stream of businesses contacting us daily A lot of gig economy workers who were looking for that pua support Um, so we felt that second survey was important and that second survey really Unfortunately gave us a really Really big numbers, you know 55 000 of um lost revenue Her business on average. So uh for our small businesses. So that's a big chunk on for a monthly Range and 50 of them reported that they laid off one or more persons You know, so those all of a sudden and then we also were looking at free covet, you know, 3 percent unemployment and it you know, so now we're looking at nearly 20 percent So all of a sudden those numbers are really dire. Um, however, I thought what was really interesting We felt like a lot of the comments when we asked what you would add to it Was that they said do the things that are safest do what's right Um, keep our employees our employers and most importantly, you know and our clients safe. So they were I mean everyone wants to reopen everyone But they're they I didn't hear that in patients quite yet. So I think they're really wanting to do the right thing So that was really inspiring. So you were really able to gather quite a bit of information From people as in real time as they're experiencing this And this is causing quite a bit of economic dislocation Among these businesses and for our community And of course with the closing of the university and the colleges Our our major industry of higher education meant that their clients were leaving town Of course, there are what 18 19 thousand of us who live in town Where their customers as well that said a lot of people who left the town who Basically there and left with their business And they're all sequestered in their homes all over the state the country the world So um, so what are we doing about this is I guess the the next part of the conversation And um, Gabrielle when you were on the show Oh, I don't know four or five six months ago We talked about your vision for creating a foundation for the community That you were going to raise some money and that money was going to be invested in things for the community That would help spur and prop up and expand our local economy Wasn't directly money for the businesses, but it was money for the community And you got your 501 c3 And then what happened? Yeah, so the downtown amherst foundation was originally created to be an arts and culture Driver for our downtown area and that was our intention We were going to raise quite a bit of money to build and create arts and culture as a destination leader for our downtown And literally as claudia said the day that the amherst chamber and the bid closed our doors to the public Our our physical doors in town Our irs letter came giving us our full 501 c3 Status which was bittersweet It did not take long before claudia and I started again talking just on that daily basis I'm hearing this from this business. We're hearing And kind of also needing that emotional support of sharing the stories back and forth and not just having the burden of that beyond either one of our shoulders And we started saying, okay, we've got to do something. We started weekly meetings with the town What is the town government going to be able to do? We're both talking a lot outside of our area. I I'm on the phone on a daily basis with boston new york the Cape the islands, you know, what are all these other communities doing? This isn't like a great fire that rips through a town and we can all sort of rally behind and build it back up This is a global Economic, you know issue So one night we were talking. I think it was a friday less than three weeks ago And we said, what if we took the foundation, which is a 501 c3 and pivoted it Shifted the mission slightly to become a resiliency grant maker Within I think 48 hours. We designed a website. We opened a bank account. We got a uh patronicity sort of Quote-unquote go fund me site live We reached out to five Remarkable amherst residents who have no stake in whether or not this goes well They're not landlords. They're not business people who you know will thrive or or not thrive based on any other business in town doing well And they jumped on immediately and said, yes, we will be the committee that will review these grants and We went live two weeks ago within two weeks We raised over 170 thousand dollars in funds and we opened our grant application on may 1st for our first round of small business micro grants and these grants will be up to 15 thousand dollars We have a really um Wonderful application that is on our website. Um, it's simple. It is kind. It's not some, you know, unbelievable You know kresge grant or or bank loan application that is daunting And um, we're really looking forward to handing these to our committee and to letting them go through them They have a rubric. This is going to be done very fairly and our first grant application process We are looking at as a resiliency grant and a sustainability grant And we are hoping to do a second round of grants that are going to be a reopening grant Great and so, um, who's been contributing to this fund 170 thousand dollars raised that quickly What was what's the average grant? Uh, I'm sorry the contributions. What's the average contribution size? How many people have contributed to this fund already? I'm gonna let Claudia take that one I'm gonna have to do the quick math here on the on the average size, but you're talking we're actually almost up to 175 thousand And uh, I think it's 177 donors So you're you're looking at an average that there was one or two large gifts very large generous But um, you know, we're seeing checks of 500 2500 125 Online and checks we're getting both. Um, you know People have really committed to this in a unique and responded to this But I think we both had a pulse of the the general sense of support local has really surfaced Right and in real time right now And so I feel like we also hit upon a need that people have just been wanting to do so much more We we did create some other initiatives together. Um, you know, we have an open for business Listing that we share all the open businesses so that folks can You know people know who's open for business how they can help them because the help is out there people Really want to support our community. So I think that has been always driving us We started a tip jar so we can help our gig economy workers Pay our hairdressers pay the folks who can't work at all right now Um, and our bartenders our favorite folks at our favorite servers, right at our local spots And we all have them and uh, so, you know, these are just this is among the efforts that we've done together And we currently have an open list of all who's open for business And I think the nice thing is we're seeing more businesses start to reopen And also pivot Innovate and create some new ways of doing business No, a lot of creativity going on here A lot of people coming stepping up to the plate as they say no no contribution too big or too small Every little bit is going to help every bit helps and this really is a demonstration of Community and community spirit because these are people local people Supporting local businesses not in exchange for goods of services But because they want to keep this economy going and get these businesses reopened and people Reemployed so that's really terrific. So what's coming next? So we have a deadline coming up For the first round of grants When those grants go out it'll be how long about a week or 10 days or two weeks after the deadline We would like to see our grants go out mid-may. Um, so it's going to be a pretty fast turnaround. Um We feel like they need relief now One of the things that we heard from many businesses leading up to our decision to do this micro grant problem Program is um, they could not take on more debt Um, it was just something especially with the uncertainty. I think if there was an absolute We know how long this is going to last or there's a there's a date I think that would help your ability to say, okay, I could borrow some money right now But we don't know what that date is and um, you know, it has been you know, it was may 4th at one point That was yesterday. We're looking at may 18th. Um, you know, there's a lot of people that are saying massachusetts It's probably mid to late june. So those numbers really um those dates affect someone's ability To to have hope so we'd like to get these this first round out as soon as possible So mid-may and give them that hope to know that they will be Ready to come back online when the time comes Fantastic and the second round Applications will begin to be collected when? We have some work to do we've got some fundraising to do so claudy and I are going to get out there and Pound the digital pavement. Um claudy and I have both worked on fundraising our whole lives And I have never in my life asked for a major donation via hi. We've never met and here's an email These are like very wild times for us But we have some community right even getting our committee together. We've never half of them. We've never met all cold calling The most fantastic committed committee possible Yeah, everything's been done very differently So step one is we got to raise the money step two is we're going to have another round And the second round will still be focused on sustainability or Will it start to edge into plans for reopening and reengaging? Is that the way you're thinking of it? Stan we hope so we really hope that the second round is a reopening and if we can do a third round We're hoping that it is um an invigoration round. So we We get some people sustained We get them reopened and then maybe they can come and say I've got this fantastic idea and we can help support that Again, we want to return amherst to stability For our businesses and our community and our nonprofits because our nonprofits rely heavily on the businesses for support And then we want to go back to our original plan that claudy and I were working so much on av Destination Amherst and create a year-round Vibrant community that Amherst is its own thing that is complemented by the university and the college But is quite a remarkable town all on its own terrific and uh, so claudia what else is coming after We're working on the second and maybe third round of grants What other longer term plans are you looking at or is it just really too difficult right now because Everything has to be focused on the survival of our local businesses Yeah, I think we're really still working on recovery planning right now That's the most important piece that I feel like that's as far out as we have gone And you just caught us on the heels of presenting to town council last night Um, we have been as as gabriel said we're on the calls with i'm on the calls with other chambers She's on the other calls with the bids. Um, we're looking at other town reopening plans and strategies and Also working with mendy to report our recovery committee that will go to and report to governor baker That we will have a meeting as well to share our feedback and what those needs will be And so we've already begun to do some of that sharing so we can get this as much state support The town is going to be really struggling, right? There's going to be a lot of loss to the town budget But at the same time, you know, we want to get back to that destination amherst So how do we climb our way out of this and get a recovery plan in place? That's going to capture the spirit of our community in our town But also be proactive enough so that we're ready. So when he says, you know, whatever those however that comes in phases You know, obviously we want it to be the most safe But um, we really want to be ready. The shovel ready is sort of the the new term, right? And the buzzword, but I think we talked a lot about how we look at our licensing and permitting and fast-tracking things so that we can do outdoor dining and Alcohol use maybe in more general areas so that, you know, more restaurants can participate We've seen a lot of plans coming out that include outdoor dining only, for example In the first rollout to keep people safe But that's going to be all new for us. A lot of folks don't have that opportunity or option So both public ways and private You know property owners if they work with their tenants to really make that possible You know, and that's just one facet of what we've talked to the town about to try to think about, you know, what what ppp Needs do they have? What do they need tables and chairs? You know, they are going to need a lot and basically the survey really revealed that they're going to have a hard enough time Meeting just the basic payroll utilities, right and their rents So anything we can do to diffuse some of those costs for them and any barrier to You know building some revenue for them and getting them back on their feet Like Gabrielle said, they've been pivoting. They've been doing an amazing amount of work But it's not nearly the levels that they were at So, you know, we're really hoping to work with the plan and also that it's a unified message that We're so grateful that town has been really to willing to listen to the data that we've collected and we brought it to the town council in the hopes that Not only is Licensing but also other zoning laws because that's going to feed into the shorter long term, you know, the short long term of this Because can we do some easy Some zoning changes that will make it at least a little easier to do business in Amherst So it sounds like we're trying to take advantage of this situation To basically say it's not going to be business as usual We have to think in different ways because even when we are Allowed to go out of our homes and begin to shop and begin to be more engaged in the community It's not going to be business as usual at least for the foreseeable future So we have to think differently, which means the government has to think differently and act differently And we're going to have to let go of some of the things that may Have been seen or believed to be necessary Which when you look at those things in the environment we're in now you realize Well, they're not that important when you compare Those things to these other things Because we're going to have to change here in order to have a vibrant economy and to restore our community life And that's basically sounds to me like the message you were delivering Is it can't be business as usual if we cannot go back to all the usual processes and procedures That slow things down and and make you do the same thing you've always done. You got to think differently And go Sounds like I was paid to say that but I wasn't Thank you for the PSA That I really want to thank both of you for the work that you're doing to help our local businesses and help our people get back to work and I hope lots of people who are listening will decide to contribute to the fund That you guys are working on so that we can have the second and third round of grants It's a way of showing your support for the community for your neighbors for the businesses in town who are your neighbors and uh fellow churchgoers and and Whatever so We really all have to do our part here and I just want to thank both of you for the energy you're bringing It's so obvious in today's show Just how much energy and passion you have and I want to say to all of the listeners So, you know, stay safe You got a distance. You got to wear those masks Yeah, social isolation is not easy So spend some time every day Thinking about people you haven't talked to in a while and give them a call because many of them are alone Well, claudie and I like to say please check on your extrovert friends. We're not okay But we want everybody to be connecting in whatever way they can at a safe distance Absolutely I think I'm going to thank you both And thanks for listeners for joining us. I don't know when we'll be back on again But we will be back on again at some point with more regular shows, but we thought this was really important to Make a show around this we were planning to have you on claudia anyway Before we had to suspend but here we are And so thank you all very much for watching and we'll look forward to reconnecting with you all both on the air and in the community Thank you stan. Stay safe. Thank you. Looking forward to it. Thanks for having us. You're welcome. Stay well and you