(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development Victor L. Hoskins today announced a round of awards for the Great Streets Grant Initiative Program. The grants are meant to stimulate small-business development and expansion while also creating new job opportunities for District residents along Great Streets corridor and surrounding areas. 

At a ceremony held this morning at recipient business Three Little Pigs, located at 5111 Georgia Avenue NW, the Great Streets Initiative Grant Program awarded 19 recipients more than $1.25 million in grant monies. There, Mayor Gray joined Deputy Mayor Hoskins, where he said:

“Congratulations to each of today’s awardees,” said Mayor Gray. “As small business owners, you are each positive contributors to the District economy, and your businesses are strong evidence of the local community’s presence in the consumer market amid the District’s ongoing renaissance. The awards you each received today will allow you as entrepreneurs the opportunity to further expand your operations, streamline costs, add new job opportunities and strengthen your presence in your corridors.”

Businesses in several corridors were eligible for today’s round of awards. The corridors are 7th Street and North Capitol Street NW; Georgia Avenue NW; H Street NE; Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE; and Pennsylvania Avenue SE.

Today’s awardees include:

• ASK Investment Corp dba Dollar Plus Savings, located at 1541 7th Street NW: a neighborhood-serving retail store providing home goods and convenience needs to Shaw and the surrounding community will use its $62,468 used for upgrading the building inside and out;
• Atlas Performing Arts Center, located at 1333 H Street NE: originally built in 1938, this former movie theatre now serves as home to year-round theatrical productions in addition to other arts events, and it will use its $78,332 grant to enhance its audience experience, improve its efficiency in serving the public and increase its rental revenue through upgrades and purchases;
• A Wash & Associates, Inc., located at 4649 Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE: a rapidly growing company specializing in the field of electrical installation and construction management for the industrial, commercial and government markets will use its $15,000 grant funds to improve their functionality through the acquisition of state-of-the art technological equipment to enhance their relocation and business expansion plans;
• Baba Cooking School, LLC, located at 3607 Georgia Avenue NW: a for-profit food and restaurant incubator also known as EatsPlace, which will feature a community commercial kitchen and marketplace with a dining room to host pop-up restaurants and guest chef residencies and its $85,000 award will be used to support renovations of the existing building;
• Bright Start Childcare, LLC, located at 5416 Georgia Avenue NW: an organization that was established over ten years ago, which provides bilingual services to communities in the Northwest area, will use its $85,000 grant to expand the space of the existing location to support at least thirty more students along with creating job opportunities for eight more employees;
• Chez Hareg Market, located at 806 H Street NE: a market that will feature locally grown and sustainable products with weekly opportunities for shoppers to learn about healthier cooking techniques and new ways to use locally grown and seasonal goods will use its $85,000 grant funds for the re-construction of the building;
• Cirque Du Rouge, LLC, located at 416 H Street NE: a modern art studio specializing in providing customers with visual art displays, sales and high quality tattoo services will use its $51,032 grant for renovations to the physical site;
• Creative Hands Massage, LLC, located at 405 H Street NE: a business that specializes in skin care, massage, physical therapy and acupuncture will use its $75,000 award for the build-out of the existing site; 
• Integrity Self MovementArts, located at 1361 H Street NE: an movement arts studio that encourages body awareness, appreciation and utilization of one’s own body as source of wellness will use its $85,000 grant to renovate and expand the current studio space from a one-level, 280-square-foot studio to a two-level, 1,064-square-foot studio;
• L.I.F.E. Skills Unlimited Inc., located at 4645 Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE: a for-profit youth development agency that offers youth, young adults, and their families’ services in the areas of Workforce Development, Life Skills, Driver’s Education, Mentoring, Job Readiness, and Computer Literacy will use its $21,625 grant funds to expand the Driver’s Education program to include Driver’s Education Simulation Machines, allowing for greater class sizes;
• RowHouse Company, LLC, located at 519 H Street NE: a retail space focusing on green, non-toxic children's art supplies/materials and branded children’s clothing will use its $85,000 award for the build-out of the basement area and other interior improvements;
• Rufael, Inc. dba Missouri Avenue Market, located at 5900 Georgia Avenue NW: Missouri Avenue Market opened in 1998 as a small retail store specializing in convenience-based items, including canned goods, prepackaged foods and beverages, will use its $62,000 grant to upgrade the building inside and out along with making the exterior patio more supportive of the overall business;
• Sophizticated Ladyz Hair Salon, located at 1010 H Street NE:  a salon featuring a licensed cosmetologist who has worked independently with celebrities and on the H Street corridor for nearly 20 years will use its $73,095 grant for HVAC replacement, plumbing and electrical upgrades, repairs to the stairwell, new flooring and lighting, a security system, and furniture/equipment work stations;
• SouthEast Restaurant, LLC, located at 8 Florida Avenue NW: features a restaurant and catering team, developing hospitality concepts and will use its $79,900 grant to improve the interior and exterior of the business to fit the vibrate neighborhood;
• Stop and Go Market, located at 3001 Sherman Avenue NW: a neighborhood convenience store that has served the Georgia Avenue corridor since the 1920s under different names, serving fresh produce and meats, will use its $85,000 grant to make internal and external capital improvements to their location;
• Taylormade Business Center, located at 4645 Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE: a center focused on leasing furnished and unfurnished offices for startup, small and mid-size businesses will use its $23,300 award for physical renovations to further include technology equipment to integrate a back office network, workstations, and additional services;
• Thai Orchid’s Kitchen, located at 2314 Pennsylvania Avenue SE: a small family-owned, family-run, eat-in/take-out Thai Food restaurant will use the $57,000 grant for interior improvements;
• Three Little Pigs charcuterie & salumi, LLC, located at 5111 Georgia Avenue NW: a charcuterie and salumeria featuring hand-crafted, in house food production by trained chefs, which will use its $62,500 grant for the renovation of existing space;
• Washington Parks & People, located at 2437 15th Street NW: a public-private partnership that works to reclaim and leverage public green space in under-served neighborhoods featuring service and retail business operations including a commercial kitchen, a farm market, a fitness studio, two commercial conference and event centers, a tree and garden nursery, and a landscape service that will use its $23,300 grant to support the expansion and attraction of business incubation at the historic Riverside Healthy Living Center in the Town Center of the Lincoln Heights New Communities Initiative near the crossroads of the Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue Great Street Corridor.

“The District hopes to continue working with local business owners to keep their businesses thriving in the City’s ever-changing consumer market,” said Deputy Mayor Hoskins. “We know the importance of small business owners and what their businesses represent for residents, and we want the character of them all to be reflective of the entrepreneurial spirit behind them.”

More information about the grant program can be found on the Great Streets Web site.
 

Media Contacts:Chanda Washington (DMPED), (202) 727-6365