Revised May4,2015

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
Mayor,
Baltimore City
250 City Hall - Baltimore Maryland 21202
(410) 396-3835 - Fax: (410) 576-9425
Better Schools. Safer Streets. Stronger Neighborhoods.

BusinessAssistanceInformation
DearBusiness and CommunityLeaders:
Beginning Saturday, April 25,2015,peacefulproteststurnedviolent in BaltimoreCity,withprotesters
looting and destroying property. In addition, several fires were intentionally set, causing millions of
dollarsin lostproperty. AStateofEmergency wasissuedby the Mayor and Governoron Monday,April
27,2015andcontinuesto beineffect. Morethan 200citybusinesseshavebeen damaged todate.
Economic recovery is of vital importance. Small business owners must reopen to support their
livelihoods; residents need to be able to shop for necessities in their neighborhoods; and companies
need theiremployeesbackto work. Belowisinformation to assistbusinesses and ensure Baltimores
economy notonlyrecovers,butgrowsstrongerthaneverbefore.
BusinessAssistance Efforts:
1. Website: The City of Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) has launched
www.BaltimoreBusinessRecovery.org as the main portal for businesses that had physical
damage to connect with city, state and federal resources. Businesses should complete the
contact form on the website. Additional information will be added to the website to help
businessesrecoverasitbecomesavailable.
2. Business Recovery Team: BDC has established a Business Recovery Team to assist impacted
businesses. BDC will provide a staff member as a singlepointofcontact for each business to
help answerquestionsand connectitdirectlytoresourcesuntilitisfully reopen. Businesseswill
beconnected withaBDCrepresentativebysigningup at www.BaltimoreBusinessRecovery.org.
3. Business Inventory: BDC,in coordination with city agencies,isdeveloping acomprehensive list
of city businesses that were damaged, so that the City can determine what is required for
businessesin orderto reopen. Thisinventory will be usedto matchresourceswithneeds.BDC
staffhasbeento all major commercial areas affected to begin theinventory, and willcontinue
to beon theground assessing damage and meeting withbusinessowners. BDCiscoordinating
with the Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) and the U.S. Small Business
Administration(SBA) forpotentialfederalassistance.

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May4,2015

4. Police Reports:Ifabusinessesneed to fileapolicereportforproperty damageand/ordamaged

orstoleninventory,you maydosoby calling311 oronlineathttp://www.baltimorepolice.org
5. Employment: The Mayors Office of Employment Development (MOED) has been in discussions
withtheU.S.DepartmentofLabor (DOL) and the Maryland Department of Labor,Licensing and
Regulation (DLLR)to seeksupportofprogram funding aimed at youthemploymentand assisting
dislocatedworkersofdamagedbusinesses.MOED willcollaboratewithbothDOL and DLLRto
develop a plan that addresses the need for increased employment opportunities and skills
training for City residents, especially those in impacted communities. MOED is also working
closely with BDC and DLLR to immediately provide reemployment services to residents who
havelosttheirjobduetobusinessesthathaveclosedorlaidoffworkers.Ifyou are unemployed
or displaced due to recent events please contact MOED at 4103963009 from 8:30am to
4:30pm orviaemailatmoed@oedworks.com.
6. Expediting City Permits: TheMayorhasaskedCity permitting agenciesto expeditepermitsfor
repairwork and inspectionsforreopening businesses. TheMayorisalso providing ahardship
waiver (basedon certain eligibilitycriteria) forbusinessesto assistwithpermitfeesandcosts.
7. Liquor License Renewals: Given theeventsofthepastweek,MayorRawlingsBlake requested
the Liquor Board to extend the deadline for liquor license renewals and waive penalties for
licenses not paid for on the original deadline date of April 30, 2015. Licensees will have until
Thursday,May 7,2015 to pickand payforrenewalswithoutany penalties. The Board willmeet
onMay 14 andMay 28,2015.The Board will notmeet onMay 7 and May21,2015.If thereare
any questions regarding any of these matters please call the Board of Liquor License
CommissionersforBaltimoreCityat 4103964377.
8. Maryland Lottery:Themostimportantaction isforretailerswithlostorstolenlottery ticketsto
report to DarrylMassey, theLottery Security Supervisor,as soon as possible. He can bereached
at4102308746 ordarryl.massey@maryland.gov.
In addition,beginning Wednesday,May 6,2015 and every Wednesdaythereafteruntil further
notice, therewillbean openhouseattheLotteryHeadquartersfor any affected retailers. The
Headquarters will be open for retailer meetings from 9:00 am until 12:00 pm and then again
from 1:00 pm until 4:00 pm. There will be stations set up for retailers to meet with lottery
security, lottery sales and lottery accounting. The Lotterys vendor will also be present to help
identify missing and needed equipment to get affected retailers back up and running. The
Lottery Agency Headquarters is located at 1800 Washington Blvd. Baltimore, Maryland 21230
Suite 330. There is no need to call and schedule a meeting ahead of time. Lottery
representativeswillbeavailable.

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May4,2015

9. BGEPaymentAssistance:Ifabusinessishavingdifficulty making BGEpayment duetobusiness

interruption,businesscustomersmaycall BGEat8776850123toaskforanew duedate
and/orpaymentarrangements.
10. Insurance Assistance: BDC has been in touch with Al Redmer, Commissioner of the Maryland
InsuranceAdministration (MIA),to help answerany questionsrelatedto insuranceclaimsthat
smallbusinessesmayhave.MIA maybereacheddirectlyat 4104682000.
11. Language Access:The Mayors Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs (MIMA) isassisting
businesseswithlanguage barriersto ensure all information is accessible to nonEnglishspeaking
business owners. MIMA will continue to work closely with BDC and community partners on
outreachto impacted immigrant businessesto ensure the successful reopening ofbusinesses,
many ofwhich arelocaland familyowned. Businessownersrequiring languageassistancemay
contact
MIMA
at
4103968056
or
via
the
MIMA
website

http://mayor.baltimorecity.gov/contactmima.
12. CorporateSupport:
Many businesses have offered to donate their services and expertise to affected
businesses. BDCistracking thoseoffersand willhelp connect businessesaccordingly to
those in need ofservices. Ifyourbusiness would like to assist, please contact BDCat
www.BaltimoreBusinessRecovery.org.
The need for additional youth employment opportunities has never been greater.
Please considersigning yourbusiness upforthe Mayors Hire One Youth campaign to
supportsummerjobs forcity youth by hiring ayoung person. Ifyou havesigned up this
yearalready or in the past, please considerincreasing yourcommitment.You mayalso
donate funds to support theMayors YouthWorks Summer Employment Program,which
provides employmentplacement foryouthatgovernmentofficesandpartnerlocations.
13. Messaging: Visit Baltimore, the Citys official tourism bureau and destination marketing
organization, isworking closely withbusiness leadersin the restaurant,hospitality and tourism
sectors, as well as our state economic development partners, to ensure Baltimore remains a
premier destination for the millions of tourists, convention attendees and local Maryland
residents that come to Baltimore City each year. In addition to an immediate and longterm
messaging strategy,VisitBaltimoreis also working withlocal organizations,including Downtown
Partnership ofBaltimore,the GreaterBaltimore Committee, and Economic Alliance of Greater
Baltimore, to ask residents, workers and visitors to support local businesses affected by the
recentevents.

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14. Partnering Agencies/Organizations: TheMayors Office hasbeen in contactwiththefollowing

economicdevelopmentagenciesand organizations who haveofferedassistance. TheCity will
continuetoworkwithourpartnersuntilbusiness recoveryisfullycomplete:
BaltimoreCityDepartmentofHealth
BaltimoreDevelopmentCorporation (BDC)
BaltimoreHousing
DowntownPartnershipofBaltimore
EconomicAllianceofGreaterBaltimore
GreaterBaltimoreCommittee (GBC)
Mayors Office of Employment Development (MOED)
Mayors Office of Minority and WomenOwnedBusinessDevelopment
Mayors Office of Multicultural & Immigrant Affairs (MIMA)
Maryland DepartmentofBusiness&EconomicDevelopment (DBED)
Maryland DepartmentofLabor,Licensing,andRegulation (DLLR)
MarylandEmergencyManagementAgency(MEMA)
MarylandInsuranceAdministration (MIA)
U.S.DepartmentofLabor (USDOL)
U.S.SmallBusinessAdministration (SBA)
VisitBaltimore
WaterfrontPartnershipof Baltimore
TheCity recognizesthechallengesthatbusinesses continueto faceoverthelastseveraldays and the
disruption it has caused. As a City, we will rebuild and reopen. Baltimore is resilient. The City
appreciatesthesupportandpatienceofthebusiness communityaswecontinueto moveforward.

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