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Archives for February 2021

Montgomery County to Host COVID-19 Economic Revitalization and Recovery Virtual Town Hall

For Immediate Release: Friday, February 26, 2021

Montgomery County to Host COVID-19 Economic Revitalization and Recovery Virtual Town Hall on Friday, March 5, on Legal Advice Program for Small Businesses During the COVID-19 Crisis

“Legal Advice During the Pandemic” will be the theme from noon-1 p.m. on Friday, March 5, when Montgomery County’s COVID-19 Economic Revitalization and Recovery program continues its series of virtual town hall meetings to keep businesses informed on strategies for doing business as the health crisis continues. The upcoming town hall will feature Judy Stephenson, the County small business navigator, and Marla Bilonick, the executive director and CEO of the Latino Economic Development Center. 

County Executive Marc Elrich initiated the series of town halls held every other Friday as a way to share timely updates on COVID-19 topics of interest to the business community. The town halls give businesses an opportunity to hear directly from County leaders. Jerome Fletcher, the County’s assistant chief administrative officer (ACAO) for economic development, hosts the sessions. He also provides updates on grant programs available to County businesses and offers ideas that can help economic recovery.

During the March 5 town hall, Ms. Stephenson and Ms. Bilonick will share information on a new legal advice program that the County will sponsor. In addition, the Latino Economic Development Center will provide information on the program to small businesses. The new program will include legal clinics and webinars.

Among the topics the legal program will cover will be rent issues, renegotiating contracts with vendors, renegotiating contracts with clients, renegotiating loans, employee/personnel issues, insurance concerns,  starting a business and closing a business.

If business owners, employees or residents have questions they would like to see addressed at the March 5 town hall, they can be submitted by Wednesday, March 3, to BizPortal@MontgomeryCountyMD.gov.

“Montgomery County understands that small and minority-owned businesses have an urgent need for legal assistance, particularly related to commercial leases,” said ACAO Fletcher. “We are partnering with the Latino Economic Development Center to help meet this need. Local businesses will have access to legal clinics to address specific issues and webinars on more general topics.”

The town hall will be broadcast live via Teams. To join the broadcast, go to https://tinyurl.com/4kknxdmp.

The town hall will be broadcast on County Cable Montgomery (cable station CCM), which is available on Comcast and RCN (channels 6 and HD996) and Verizon (channel 30).

The town hall can be viewed live via County social media at https://www.facebook.com/montgomerycountyinfo. 

Town halls are recorded and available for 90 days at the Montgomery County Business Portal at https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/biz-resources/covid19/

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Black History Q&A Video

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Black History Q&A videos – It’s important to know that these types of topics can feel taboo and uncomfortable to discuss, especially for Black business people in a professional setting. I believe it’s important for Black members, if they choose, to be able to use their voices to share their insights and perspectives in order to create a larger, meaningful dialogue within the Chamber, the business community, and the Rockville community at large. If this is the goal and spirit of the videos, then I believe they can be quite meaningful, and Black members may be interested in participating beyond Black History month.

They should be thought-provoking, sincere and respectful and elicit open, honest, and thoughtful responses from the participants. Please join the conversation and add your voice.

Purpose of the program
I want to provide a series of videos for Black History Month that express the sentiment of African Americans. This could be a series all it’s own, and the start of an evergreen program and/or conversation we can have inside and outside the Rockville Chamber community. For right now, we are focused on the Rockville Chamber and our communities.

The idea is to ask people to answer 4 questions to record yourself via selfie video on their smart phones. They should be thought-provoking, sincere and respectful and elicit open, honest, and thoughtful responses from the participants. I recommend describing this as a Black History Q&A versus a Black History “Month” Q&A, with the point being that this is an integral part of our shared history – not limited to one month of inclusion.

Black History Q&A

  1. What does Black History mean to you? 
  2. Which person influenced you the most? 
  3. What would you share with your ancestors about how you live today?
  4. Why should Black Lives Matter to you, to me and to society?

Please join the conversation. Send me your recordings and we’ll add them to the posts.

Published by Timothy Fahey; and contributions by Howard Schwartz a writer and content strategist; and Aliyah Hatcher, Owner and PMA Certified Pilates Teacher, 5751-A Fishers Lane | Rockville, Maryland 20852 . Timothy Fahey is branding and design professional, designer, professor, blogger, videographer and owner of Dirigo Agency Inc., a company focused on helping business owners use branding, design, and content to market their business. He has worked in the agency business since 1986 and served both local and global brands. His passion is to collaborate with others to create content more strategically so they get the recognition and results they desire through content marketing efforts.

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