Hello friend,
This was our first week holding only one press conference a week. If you weren’t able to catch it on Wednesday afternoon, don’t worry.There’s a lot going on these days, and it’s easy to miss things. That’s why I wanted to put together a quick recap for you of the new announcements from the past week.
I’ll still be sending out these emails every day so that you can get the most recent info when you need it. If you know someone who wants to stay up-to-date on the latest measures Rhode Island is taking to stop the spread of COVID-19, send them this link: lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/eYMG9tf . The better we stay informed, the better we’ll be able to keep ourselves, our families, and our friends safe from COVID-19.
BEACHES
Effective this past Thursday, parking lots at Misquamicut and Scarborough State Beaches will be reduced to 25% capacity to reduce the volume of visitors. I’m sorry that we have to do this, but it’s necessary. Crowding at our beaches last weekend was the worst we’ve seen it since this crisis began, and that spilled over into crowding at local restaurants and bars. If we want to stay open, we need to stay safe.
We’ll be working with municipalities to crack down on illegal parking around our beaches and we’ll increase enforcement at local businesses. We’ll also have staff on the beaches to hand out masks to folks who don’t have them. If we start to see these same issues at other beaches, we’ll put restrictions on them too. If we continue to see issues, we’ll close our state beach parking lots entirely.
RESTORE RI
We’re supporting Rhode Island small businesses with a new program called Restore RI, through which we will directly invest $100 million. $50 million of this money will be made available in grants of up to $15,000 as part of the first round of funding to provide direct cash assistance. These funds will help businesses facing reopening expenses such as plexiglass, cleaning supplies, and touchless pay technology, as well as fixed costs like rent and utilities. Yesterday I had a video conference with our congressional delegation to talk about how CARES Act funding will power this important program.
That money will both help business stay open and keep employees and customers safe. It is essential that this money reaches businesses in every part of the state as quickly as possible. Our team at Commerce is working around the clock to be able to make applications available in the next two weeks and to get you all the info you need to take part in Restore RI. If your businesses needs this support, you can prepare to apply by reviewing the details on CommerceRI.com or by calling 521-HELP.
REBUILDING RHODE ISLAND
This week, I shared my vision for rebuilding Rhode Island’s economy after the COVID-19 pandemic. We need to embrace what we’ve learned, and not just go back to the old way of doing business. The fundamental makeup of our economy has changed. We can’t shy away from the hard truth that a lot of the jobs we’ve lost aren’t coming back.
But there’s another truth that we can’t turn a blind eye to either: the old way of doing business left a lot of people behind. Let’s address these inequities head-on, together. Let’s build a better, more equitable, more innovative economy. That requires making major investments in education, job training, small businesses, and housing. I’m excited to announce that I’ll be dedicating more than $200 million in federal stimulus funding to support these programs.
I hope you find this recap helpful. It’s so important that everyone stay engaged and informed so that we can all stay safe and healthy. I’ll be back on TV with more updates this week Wednesday at 1 p.m.
We’re all in this together.
-Gina Raimondo
Governor
P.S.: Information is our greatest weapon in the fight against COVID-19, If you or someone you know wants to sign up to receive these emails, you can use this link.