Note: The following is a press release from Gov. Charlie Baker’s office.

BOSTON – Today, the Baker-Polito Administration announced that Massachusetts will move forward in the Commonwealth’s reopening plan to reopen certain outdoor Phase 4 industries effective May 10^th, as previously announced. The Administration continues to take steps to reopen the Commonwealth’s economy with public health metrics continuing to trend in a positive direction.

On March 22, Massachusetts loosened restrictions and advanced to Phase IV of the Commonwealth’s reopening plan. Since then, daily new COVID-19 cases have dropped by 45%, hospitalizations have dropped by 23%, and deaths have dropped by 69%. All these metrics have dropped by around 80% or more since the beginning of the year. The Commonwealth also remains a national leader in COVID-19 vaccinations, and over 3.9 million people are fully or partially vaccinated, and Massachusetts is on track to meet its goal of vaccinating over 4 million people by the beginning of June.

Effective Monday, May 10^th:

The Commonwealth will reopen certain outdoor Phase 4 industries.

• Amusement parks, theme parks and outdoor water parks will be permitted to operate at a 50% capacity after submitting safety plans to the Department of Public Health.
• Road races and other large, outdoor organized amateur or professional group athletic events will be permitted to take place with staggered starts and other appropriate safety measures after submitting safety plans to a local board of health or the DPH.

Additionally, large capacity venues such as indoor and outdoor stadiums, arenas and ballparks currently open at 12% capacity as part of Phase 4, Step 1 will be permitted to increase capacity to 25%.

Youth and adult amateur sports tournaments will be allowed for moderate and high-risk sports.

Singing will also be permitted indoors with strict distancing requirements at performance venues, restaurants, event venues and other businesses.

Grocery stores and retail stores with a pharmacy department should consider dedicated hours of operation for seniors, but will no longer be required to offer senior hours.

Additional Changes Anticipated to be Effective Saturday, May 29^th:

Contingent on continued positive trends in the public health and vaccination data, on May 29^th, additional sectors will be permitted to re-open and gathering limits will increase to 200 people indoors and 250 people outdoors for event venues, public settings and private settings.

The additional sectors that will be permitted to open include:

• Parades, street festivals and agricultural festivals, after submitting safety plans to the local board of health including measures for maintaining social distance, staffing and operations plans and hygiene and cleaning protocols.
• Bars, beer gardens, breweries, wineries and distilleries, which will be subject to restaurant rules with seated service only, a 90 minute limit and no dance floors.

Subject to public health and vaccination data, the restaurant guidance will be updated to eliminate the requirement that food be served with alcohol and to increase the maximum table size to 10.

Last week, the Administration also relaxed the Face Coverings Order for some outdoor settings and announced further reopening plans for August 1^st.

For more information, visit mass.gov/reopening.

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Note: The following is a press release from Gov. Baker’s office.

Final round results in nearly $4.8 million in grant awards to 108 additional businesses; More than $687 million in direct cash payments delivered to 15,112 of state’s hardest hit businesses

LOWELL – Today, Governor Charlie Baker, Lt. Governor Karyn Polito, Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy, legislators and key partners celebrated the success of the Baker-Polito Administration’s COIVD-19 business relief program administered by the Massachusetts Growth Capital Corporation (MGCC). Gathering in person at the family- and minority-owned Panela Restaurant in Lowell, a program grantee, the Administration announced the end of the program, which has provided over $687.2 million in direct cash grants to 15,112 businesses across the Commonwealth. Among the awardees included in the final round were 108 additional businesses that received a total of approximately $4.8 million in COVID relief grants.

First launched in October 2020 as part of the Administration’s Partnerships for Recovery initiative to stabilize and grow the Massachusetts economy, this program became the biggest state-sponsored business relief program in the nation after being infused with an additional $668 million in December. Established to provide direct financial support for businesses, the Administration has tapped numerous partners to ensure specific economic sectors and priority demographics known to be the most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic applied to the program and were prioritized for aid.

Over the duration of the program, 43 percent of MGCC grants were awarded to minority-owned businesses, and 46 percent of grants went to women-owned businesses. Businesses owned by veterans, individuals with disabilities, or that identify as LGBTQ, as well as those operating in Gateway Cities and not previously awarded aid, also received substantial grant support. Additionally, one-third of the total program funding (about $224 million) has benefited the hard-hit restaurant and bar industry, with personal services like hair and nail salons ($91 million), and independent retailers ($62 million) rounding out the top sectors.

​“Thanks to the work of Mass. Growth Capital, more than $680 million in direct financial assistance has been deployed to over 15,000 businesses across Massachusetts, many of which are located in the communities that have had the greatest need during this pandemic,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “Recognizing that our small business community employed close to half the Commonwealth’s workforce prior to the pandemic, this program has been instrumental in helping to keep these enterprises going while supporting a substantial percentage of our workforce as we approach what we hope are the final months of this public health crisis.”

“This program, which was designed to provide vital support to small businesses in need, is one component of our larger strategy to help the Commonwealth’s economic recovery from this unprecedented public health emergency,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “I want to applaud MGCC for their success with this program and thank their partners for helping to spread the word, which allowed us to provide direct support to those businesses that have been hit the hardest, including minority- and woman-owned businesses, restaurants and downtown retailers.”

The 15th and final round of awards totaled approximately $4.8 million in grants to 108 additional businesses. Among the final round of recipients, grants were awarded to 25 minority-owned, and 26 women-owned businesses; 24 recipients were located in Gateway Cities, and 28 businesses had not received any prior aid.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude to Larry Andrews and his team at MGCC for going above and beyond in their efforts to ensure that this important aid went to businesses located in Gateway Cities, met a demographic priority such as being minority- or women-owned, or were operating in sectors among the hardest hit during this pandemic,” said Housing and Economic Development Secretary Mike Kennealy. “In addition, I’d like to thank MGCC’s partner organizations, which include Amplify Latinx and locally the Entrepreneurship Center @CTI with us today, who truly made this program successful because of their extensive outreach to the communities that are traditionally underrepresented.”

To increase applications from underrepresented groups and achieve equitable access to funding, MGCC worked with a statewide network of local non-profits, small business technical assistance providers, and other organizations that support minority enterprises to reach businesses and entrepreneurs that would match the program’s priorities. These partners include the Black Economic Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), Amplify Latinx, the Business Equity Initiative, the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC), LISC, LEAF, the African Community Economic Development of New England (ACEDONE), and the statewide Coalition for an Equitable Economy.

“The success of this program was a direct result of the leadership of the Governor, Lt. Governor, and Secretary Kennealy; and the team at MGCC, who rose to the occasion to stand up a new program and deliver an unprecedented amount of relief to small businesses across Massachusetts that have been impacted by the pandemic,” said MGCC President and CEO Larry Andrews. “Also critical to this program’s success was the extensive network of partner organizations, including Amplify Latinx, for their work to reach out to businesses that serve communities of color, groups that have been disproportionately impacted by the virus, or who are traditionally at a disadvantage, and provided the necessary technical assistance through the application process.”

MGCC will soon be announcing two new funding opportunities focused on small businesses. A program called Biz-M-Power will assist low-income and moderate-income entrepreneurs acquire or improve their brick-and-mortar location, purchase new equipment, and other capital needs. Businesses will crowdfund through local residents, neighborhoods, community members, and other stakeholders and become eligible for matching grants. Another new program will help small businesses access tools and services to develop their digital capabilities, including social media, website development, and team collaboration.

These awards have been part of a steady deployment of grants and capital funding to support economic recovery throughout Massachusetts and are a key part of the Administration’s larger strategy to assist small businesses and support an equitable economic recovery across the Commonwealth.

“It is essential to recognize the significance of culturally and linguistically responsive outreach to minority and underrepresented groups, which was a major contributor to the program’s success,” said Amplify Latinx Executive Director Rosario Ubiera-Minaya. “These partner organizations are all well positioned and trusted by minority communities to effectively and quickly respond to the challenges faced by these businesses. The collaborative approach centered on the partner organizations has helped ensure that the collective work going forward is as intentional and impactful as possible. Keeping direction will position minority-owned businesses for stability and growth.”

In addition to this business relief program, recovery efforts consist of MGCC Small Business Technical Assistance grants and matching grants for Community Development Financial Institutions and Community Development Corporations; the Regional Pilot Project Grant Program, which is a $5 million initiative designed to activate vacant storefronts, support regional supply chain resiliency, and create small business support networks; the $1.6 million Travel and Tourism Recovery Grant Pilot Program to promote recovery in the tourism industry; the ongoing My Local MA marketing initiative to encourage residents to support their local economies by shopping at Massachusetts businesses and attractions; and a $9.5 million effort underway to help 125 communities pursue locally-driven, actionable strategies to support downtown and commercial districts through the Local Rapid Recovery Planning program.

 

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Note: The following is a press release from Gov. Charlie Baker’s office.

Massachusetts set to vaccinate 4.1 million people by the beginning of June

BOSTON – Today, Governor Charlie Baker and Lt. Governor Karyn Polito were joined by Secretary of Health & Human Services Marylou Sudders and Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Disaster Medicine Director Dr. Paul Biddinger to discuss the Commonwealth’s vaccine progress and outline the next phase of vaccine distribution.

In December, the Baker-Polito Administration set a goal of vaccinating approximately four million people in the Commonwealth. According to the CDC’s vaccine data, 3.9 million people in Massachusetts have been fully or partially vaccinated as of today. Another 180,000 people are scheduled to get their first dose in the next 7 days.

Altogether, 4.1 million are set to be fully vaccinated by the beginning of June —reaching the administration’s initial goal and representing a significant achievement for the Commonwealth.

Next Phase of the Commonwealth’s Vaccination Efforts: More Targeted, Community-Based Options

Massachusetts is a national leader for vaccine distribution across every national metric. As a result of the state’s efforts, hospitalizations and new positive cases decreased — particularly among our most vulnerable residents.

While reaching 4.1 million residents vaccinated represents progress, the administration will continue to adapt vaccine efforts to be more targeted and will shift vaccines to smaller scale operations focusing on certain populations and specific communities—such as the Commonwealth’s 20 most disproportionately impacted communities.

This next phase of the Commonwealth’s vaccine efforts will include:

• Providing all 22 regional collaboratives with doses to fully operate their programs.
• Doubling the state vaccine allocation for our 20 most disproportionately impacted communities.
• Working with the Mass Medical Society to increase access of vaccines with additional primary care providers by mid-May. This effort will require affirming complex storage and scheduling logistics to ensure all doses are put to good use.
• Expanding mobile vaccine clinics in our 20 most disproportionately impacted communities at senior centers, houses of worship and other community-based organizations.
• Working with current providers and community partners to offer new vaccine clinic opportunities.

Over 21,000 doses have been administered through mobile vaccination clinics in Boston, Chelsea, Brockton, Fall River, Springfield and New Bedford. Mobile clinics have been particularly effective in our equity communities and to reach people of color. So far, 61% of vaccine recipients at these clinics have been people of color.

New vaccine clinic opportunities have already started to be stood up. Some examples include:

• The Metro North Regional Collaborative’s three new clinics at the Encore Casino in Everett, Tufts Campus in Medford and at the Cambridge Health Alliance location in Somerville.
• Boston Medical Center’s new vaccine scheduling location at the South Bay Shopping Center.
• Mobile clinics in Lynn, New Bedford, Worcester and Fall River at local churches and temples in different languages.
• The City of Brockton’s clinic at the Westgate Mall and at different municipal housing complexes.

Mass Vaccination Sites & Pre-Registration

The Baker-Polito Administration will also begin to transition or ramp down the state’s seven mass vaccination sites. Mass vaccination sites have played a critical role in the Commonwealth’s vaccination process in a very short period of time.

At the mass vaccination sites, the Commonwealth has administered 1.2 million doses and fully vaccinated 470,000 people since the first site opened at Gillette Stadium on January 18th. The state expects to administer around 250,000 second doses in May and another 180,000 first doses across all providers over the next seven days.

With millions of people vaccinated, the demand for high throughput mass vaccination sites will gradually decline, and more vaccines will be dispersed more widely across communities.

The administration will gradually close four out of the state’s seven mass vaccination sites by the end of June (Gillette Stadium, Hynes Convention Center, Double Tree in Danvers & the Natick Mall).

We will soon begin to accept walk-ins at select mass vaccination sites. Information about availability for walk-ups will be reflected on VaxFinder.mass.gov soon.

Appointments for some sites will also be available at VaxFinder.mass.gov or by calling 211.

Since the pre-registration system was launched, over 1.8 million people registered and have been offered an appointment at least twice.

In the coming weeks, the state is anticipating that the CDC may authorize vaccines for children ages 12-15, and we will keep pre-registration available for parents who may want to bring kids to a mass vaccination site.

More details to come when the CDC determines the next steps on this.

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