OED, the Berkeley Chamber, Visit Berkeley, and commercial districts citywide have launched the #BerkeleyHolidays campaign to encourage Berkeley residents and visitors to shop locally this holiday season. Free for participating Berkeley businesses, it includes:
- a digital BerkeleyHolidays Gift Guide,
-
Visit Berkeley’s calendar of holiday events, and
- the Berkeley Chamber's social media contest for incredible prizes from more than two dozen stores, including Fill Good, Uchi House, Keter Salon, 4th St Fine Art, Donkey & Goat Winery, Five Little Monkeys, Fern's Garden, Bombay Jewelry Co., Games of Berkeley, Metro Lighting, Cult Crackers, and others.
Check it out! If your business would like to participate, contact the Berkeley Chamber before Dec.1.
 Discovered in Berkeley spotlights women entrepreneurs in Berkeleyside
The City of Berkeley’s #DiscoveredinBerkeley campaign continues to highlight unique and exemplary local businesses. In celebration of the launch of the citywide #BerkeleyHolidays campaign, the latest article in Berkeleyside highlights how community, connection and craft enable Berkeley’s women entrepreneurs to sustain their businesses, despite a global pandemic. The Berkeley Chamber’s Women Entrepreneurs of Berkeley and the BerkeleyHolidays Gift Guide (both programs supported by OED) are mentioned as tools these women are using to build lasting relationships and attract new customers.
Check out DiscoveredInBerkeley.com to see more about Berkeley's incredible businesses, follow the campaign on Instagram@DiscoveredinBerkeley, or use #discoveredinberkeley in your own social media posts.
Authorized by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors on
November 10, Alameda County CARES grants are available to assist small businesses with covering necessary costs due to the COVID-19 public health emergency incurred between March 17 and December 30, 2020. Eligible businesses can receive a one-time grant of up to $5,000, no matching contributions required.
See program details and the online application here.
Submit an application before Monday, November 30 at 11:30 pm.
State officials, noting a surge in COVID-19 cases locally, moved Berkeley and the rest of Alameda County into the more restrictive tier that requires certain businesses to only operate outdoors.
As such, the new City of Berkeley Health Order (effective Nov. 18), prohibits certain indoor activities while allowing others to operate with capacity limits and other restrictions.
The following businesses must only operate outdoors: restaurants, wineries, museums, galleries, botanical gardens, movie theaters, family entertainment centers, exhibition spaces, gyms, fitness centers, dance studios, yoga centers, churches, swimming pools.
Retail stores, shopping centers, and strip malls remain open indoors, but limited to 25 percent capacity. Grocery stores and convenience stores can open at 50 percent capacity.
Many businesses that operate indoors with restrictions – like nail salons and barbers – will remain open, but will need to continue to follow the City's Health Order and state guidance.
See what’s open or closed in Berkeley.
Find the latest City of Berkeley Health Orders here or subscribe to City news releases to be the first to know when they change.
As small businesses in Berkeley face rollbacks in COVID restrictions, they have to navigate the challenge of increasing safety measures while confronting serious financial stress. With that in mind, the Telegraph Business Improvement District (TBID) dedicated a portion of their relief funds towards supplying PPE and related equipment to its businesses. The partnership with GoodGuards, a Berkeley manufacturer of acrylic sneeze guards and partitions, is designed to make high-quality and practical products more accessible to small businesses. TBID Executive Director Alex Knox explains, "I learned about GoodGuards through the Berkeley Chamber's COVID-19 Resources webpages and the company showed a genuine interest in working together to help our businesses. By partnering, we have been able to enhance our relief efforts through a meaningful subsidy for a product that is catered to each situation."
Learn more about how GoodGuards could work for your business or commercial district.
The City of Berkeley is now accepting applications for its COVID-19 Resiliency Loan Program (RLP) to help existing Berkeley small businesses, non-profits and cooperatives to sustain their operations in Berkeley. Funded by the CARES Act, and further capitalizing the City’s existing Revolving Loan Fund (RLF) program, RLP Fixed Interest Rate Loans may be used to cover business operating expenses like payroll, rent, and utilities.
Learn more about the loan terms and submit an application by 5pm on December 18, 2020. For questions on the application process please email the Office of Economic Development or call (510) 981-7530.
In case you missed it in the last OED newsletter, Berkeley City Council approved $25,000 in funding to establish the COVID-19 Business Damage Mitigation Fund to help small businesses in the City of Berkeley that have sustained damages after the City’s Shelter-in-Place order was issued. All Berkeley businesses can apply for a grant (for up to $2,500) to cover the cost of repairs and/or cleaning due to business vandalism or other property damage experienced in the months since the Shelter in Place Order was established on
March 16, 2020.
Learn more about the fund and how to apply before 5pm on Wednesday, Nov. 25 here.
Also mentioned previously, OED is conducting a survey to have a greater understanding of how office-based businesses' commercial real estate needs may have changed in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and how our staff can support commercial tenants as well as property owners.
If you own or manage an office-based business in Berkeley, please take a few minutes before noon on Monday, 12/14, to share your thinking regarding your current and future office needs.
|
