Biz Buzz Weekly Newsletter

Keeping Up With The EDC

Prince George's Economic Development supporting

local businesses

Team PGCEDC was pleased to sponsor and participate in the Prince George's Chamber of Commerce's 2021 Annual Golf tournament and fundraiser. Proceeds went to current Chamber members, prospective members & business partners.

Prince George's County Community College Startup Cup

The PGCC StartUP Cup is the Innovation Hub at Prince George’s Community College's (INNOHUB@PGCC)’s annual county-wide business startup program that identifies emerging local entrepreneurs with solid business ideas and connects them to the resources to start and/or scale their business. The PGCC StartUp Cup creates opportunities for entrepreneurial minded individuals to refine business models, develop prototypes, validate, and test their business ideas for the next generation of great companies in the Washington Metropolitan Region. The PGCC StartUP Cup serves the broad spectrum of innovators that are part of the Prince George’s Community College ecosystem. Participants can be students, faculty, staff, veterans, returning citizens or any local Prince George’s County resident that has a great idea for a business.

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Available Business Grants

The American Rescue Plan Act established the Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF) to provide funding to help restaurants and other eligible businesses keep their doors open. This program will provide restaurants with funding equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss up to $10 million per business and no more than $5 million per physical location. Recipients are not required to repay the funding as long as funds are used for eligible uses no later than March 11, 2023.

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The Restaurant Assistance Grant will provide grants of $12,000 to Prince George’s County-based restaurants and food establishments through the Maryland Relief Act of 2021.

Applications will be accepted until May 21, 2021.

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To support Maryland’s small businesses facing continued financial impacts from the novel coronavirus, the state established through bipartisan legislation the new Maryland Small Business COVID-19 RELIEF Grant Program in 2021 with $10 million in state RELIEF Act funding.

The grant offers working capital to assist certain Maryland small businesses with disrupted operations due to COVID-19. Grant assistance is intended to provide interim relief complementing actions with its bank, business interruption insurance, and financial partners.

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BGE is pledging $15 million

BGE is pledging $15 million to assist Maryland’s small businesses with COVID-19 relief and recovery. Eligible businesses located in BGE’s service area can apply for a $20,000 BGE Energizing Small Business Grant. This grant program is part of BGE's comprehensive Customer Relief and Energy Infrastructure Investment Plan, designed to help the state’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

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Expanding Prince George's County

Congratulations to our Innovation Station Business Incubator Member, DMV Solutions

DMV Solutions, LLC was awarded a five-year prime contract with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). This award is for Cloud Platform and Project Management services -- a full and open competitive T&M contract. Services will also include infrastructure and operations (IO) and full life cycle support for information technology projects through 2026.

Read The Press Release Here

Fitch Rating

Fitch Rates Prince George's County, MD's $271.6 million GOs 'AAA';

Outlook Stable

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WUSA9

Prince George's County lifts some COVID restrictions,

businesses 'very happy'

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Hyattsville Wire

D.C. Chef Jeffeary Miskiri to Open Caribbean-Influenced Eatery in Hyattsville

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Patch | Bowie

National Harbor Will Host Job Fair, Offer Plenty Of Positions

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County Business Spotlight

BACK FOR ANOTHER SLICE OF PRINCE GEORGE’S COUNTY

Local celebrity, April Richardson, President/Co-Founder of DC Sweet Potato Cake in Hyattsville, MD has been manufacturing incredible desserts for over twenty years. On April 30, 2021 has re-opened her retail store in Prince George’s County.

DC Sweet Potato Cake is a true success story. Their cakes have been featured in several grocery chains all over the country, including Starbucks, Wegmans and Safeway. Because of their amazing flavor, Prince Georgians demanded that they open a bakery right here, in Prince George’s County. Thus, even though the name says “DC” they are truly loved by Prince Georgians.

Unfortunately for DC Sweet Potato Cake, the bakery opened just as the pandemic was beginning and even though they were still manufacturing cakes, they were forced to close their local bakery shortly after its initial opening. Through assistance from the Prince George's County Economic Development Corporation via a $25,000 grant from the Restaurant Resiliency Fund, DC Sweet Potato Cake as able to pivot and reorganize during the pandemic, purchasing additional equipment, PPE and even some ingredients.

However, COVID did not reduce the local demand for their cakes, and in April of 2021 they re-opened the bakery. Now in addition to finding DC Sweet Potato Cake in over 600 stores, you can pick one up from the just opened Hyattsville location.

DC Sweet Potato Cake continues to support the Prince George’s County community during the pandemic. Giving over 8,000 cakes to our first responders and other local charities in the area. According to Ms. Richardson, “We remind our customers, you're only as good as the last dollar spent, so we ask our customers to spend their dollars in their ‘local’ favorite places making sure ‘local’ companies are not shutting down because of COVIID-19.”

In addition to the Hyattsville location, Ms. Richardson hopes to open another location near the new hospital in Largo. This will be a bakery that serves favorites such as their Rum Sweet Potato cake, as well as a custom blend of hot steaming coffee. Thus, if you are looking for great baked goods you can find DC Sweet Potato Cake at 5105 Baltimore Ave, Hyattsville, MD 20781 or visit www.dcsweetpotatocake.com . The name says “DC” but they are true Prince Georgians.