Wedding/Event Professionals Rally – ask for accounting of RI CARES money

The RI Coalition of Wedding and Event Professionals and Small Business will rally before the Governor’s Press Conference, today, Tuesday, December 22nd, from 11am to 1pm. It will be held on Francis Street along the sidewalk facing the Vets & Renaissance Hotel.

They are inviting “all small businesses who have been affected by the Pause, shutdowns, restrictions, funding, and lack of communication” to join them.

They issued the following information:

• We are small businesses that have not received the pause money – over three later
• We are small businesses that request the transparency portal be updated on Cares Act money
• We are small businesses that have been delayed and denied CARES Act money
• We are small businesses that have restrictions in our Industries.
• We are small businesses that are not being represented .
• We are small businesses that want to see the numbers that show we are spreaders of the virus
• 
  We have asked for data from DOH and as they mentioned to us, they are not regularly tracking weddings & events, yet we have the most restrictions. We demand the Governor release any leftover CARES ACT money to small businesses. The Lt Governor Dan McKee lays this out in
  his press release. Pay up if we are restricted in our industries and reconsider her regulations where data is insufficient to that
  business.
  
• Our confirmed speakers:
  ● Lt Governor Dan McKee
  ● Chris Parisi RI Small Business Coalition & Pres. Trailblaze Marketing
  ● David Dadekian President Eat Drink RI
  ● Faith Dugan: RICWEP Task Force & Faith Dugan Photography
  ● Ali Butler Ali Lomazzo Beauty
  ● Mark Garofalo Fireworks Catering
  ● Rick Simone Federal Hill Commerce Association
  ● Edward Brady Ward 4 Council Person at Cranston City Hall & Co-Owner Thirsty Beaver & Huck’s Filling Station
  ● Judah Boulet Northern RI Strength and Conditioning
  ● Joe Reverdes A&D Fitness Johnston
  ● Tony Ormonde Ormonde Productions
  ● Mark S Deion Lt Governor’s Small Business Advocacy Council, RI Small Business Coalition & Deion Associates and Strategies Inc
• 
  All small businesses and their supporters are invited to attend and keep socially distant or drive by the rally site with business vehicles
  or decorated personal vehicles to show support. We are all asking for transparency in the transparency portal as it only shows funds
  that were spent through November 30th. The distribution was flawed and there are still people waiting for funds. Many were also
  denied funding or did not qualify. We want transparency with these funds and want to know how they will be recycled back to small
  businesses, which is who they were intended for.
  
• Small businesses are suffering from limited capacity, early closing times, and a number of other restrictions. However, we are seeing
  full shopping malls, and now testing sites are being introduced there attracting even larger crowds

They have produced a presentation which you can view at: https://www.change.org/p/governor-gina-raimondo-increase-capacity-at-ri-structured-events-with-covid-trained-event-professionals-ricwep?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=custom_url&recruited_by_id=c54d9770-bedb-012f-628c-4040acce234c

Full safety measures will be taken at the rally, and include, but are not limited to: mandatory mask-wearing with a supply of PPE available. The event will be streamed.

About the Rhode Island Coalition of Wedding and Event Professionals

We are a group of wedding & event professionals who have
been affected by Covid-19, working together to safely host weddings and events in Rhode Island. Our goal is to have our restrictions
lifted by opening up capacity and showing how we can create a safer, structured event through safety procedures.

Further Information: https://www.ricwep.org/upcoming-events | www.change.org/reopenrieventssafely
Media Contact: Luke Renchan 401-323-1997 [email protected]