91茄子

In Capitol Hill, (EMMS) serves as the heart of the聽community. Lined with over 200 businesses from 6th Street to 8th Street and聽Pennsylvania Ave N to North Carolina Ave SE, the area serves as a supportive聽grounds for these businesses, even during times of hardship.

There are 26 Main Streets in Washington, D.C. which are all part of the under the larger Main Streets America Program. The purpose of聽this nonprofit, according to the Department of Small & Local Business聽Development (DSLBD), is to 鈥渞evitalize communities by retaining and recruiting聽businesses, improving commercial properties and streetscapes and attracting聽肠辞苍蝉耻尘别谤蝉.鈥�

Eastern Market Main Street was distinguished as an official main street in 2016.聽Since then, it has served as a pillar of the community.

鈥淭he whole goal is to help businesses in a very historic area survive and thrive聽and help the community be the interesting community Capitol Hill is,鈥� Mary聽Quillian Helms, owner of Mr. Henry鈥檚 and EMMS Treasurer, said.

Helms said that urban areas like Union Market and EMMS are 鈥渋n聽vogue.鈥� However, she noted that EMMS is different from many private聽developments like Union Market because they don鈥檛 have the same control over聽things like closing down the streets for events.聽

鈥淎 little Main Street like Eastern Market Main Street doesn鈥檛 have a developer; we聽don鈥檛 have anybody that鈥檚 actively looking into the area as a whole,鈥� Helms said.

鈥淲e are individual businesses in individual buildings, owned by either the聽business or owned by individual landlords that it’s the main street that acts as the聽collective to try to harness all of our energies and to benefit everybody.鈥�

During the height of the pandemic, it was difficult for many small businesses to聽stay afloat, but former Executive Director of the EMMS board Charles McCaffrey said that in 鈥渟ome respects鈥� the pandemic 鈥渉elped鈥� their mission.

鈥淢any of our business owners and residents have been there for quite some time,鈥澛�McCaffrey said. 鈥淭hey’ve been there long enough, especially with the business聽owners, they know how to run their business. But then when everything changes,聽it was, how do I adjust?鈥�

McCaffrey and Helms both said that during the pandemic time, there was an influx聽of collaboration between businesses. Helms鈥� restaurant, Mr. Henry鈥檚, was a big part of this. For stores with a large local clientele who didn鈥檛 want to pay to have聽something shipped a few blocks, they could submit a pick-up order and grab it聽from Mr. Henry鈥檚. This kind of collaboration was beneficial for both the restaurant and the businesses that utilized this service.

鈥淚f you were picking up books from a restaurant, you probably felt obligated to聽maybe pick up a burger, which you would want to anyway; Mr. Henry鈥檚 has really聽good food,鈥� McCaffrey said.

According to their , EMMS was able to award $40,000 in聽grants to help support their businesses during the pandemic. This money came聽from DSLBD, but also from a GoFundMe campaign hosted by the leaders of聽EMMS.

EMMS has had this grant program in place for a few years, however, due to the聽pandemic, they had to change things around. Originally, the federal and donations聽money they received for the grants needed to be used for specific purposes, like聽facade renovations such as window replacements or new signs. However, because 聽of the pandemic, they decided to let businesses use the money however they saw聽fit.

鈥淲e decided to just call it emergency grant funds,鈥� McCaffrey said. 鈥淪o they聽didn’t have to submit what they were going to use it for because it was like, we聽understand you need funding.鈥�

Many of the businesses used their grant funds to help boost their social media聽presence and to dive into E-commerce by setting up websites for their聽businesses.

Every weekend, EMMS hosts a Flea Market. Weekend vendors, who don鈥檛 have a聽permanent business on the main street, also felt heavily supported by EMMS聽during the pandemic.

Zachary Sasim, an artist originally from Bulgaria, has been selling his art at the聽market for 17 years. He said the community has been 鈥渢remendous鈥� in supporting聽each other.

鈥淓ven at the time of this pandemia, it was really well operated by the聽managers of the market,鈥� Sasim said. 鈥淭hey actually do a great job.鈥�

Douglas Cochrane, also known as the 鈥淥ld Book Guy,鈥� has been a vendor at聽EMMS for around 12 years selling vintage Life Magazines and said he feels the聽same kind of support and collaboration among businesses in the area.

鈥淚 got to know some of the vendors very well and neighboring vendors and聽everybody’s very friendly and helpful,鈥� Cochrane said.

This year, the Washington City Paper named EMMS the for the third year in a row. EMMS first received the recognition in 2019 and then again in聽2020, McCaffrey said it was 鈥渘ice鈥� to receive it again, but he just wanted to make聽it through the year.

鈥淚 think that says a lot about the Capitol Hill community and the support that they聽get, but I was absolutely thrilled,鈥� McCaffrey said.

McCaffrey said that even though he is no longer on the EMMS board, he is聽hopeful for EMMS and thinks that because the area bounced back so quickly it聽says a lot about the community.

鈥淲e do a lot with very little funding and typically it’s a one-person organization,鈥澛�McCaffrey said. 鈥淚 just think it’s an incredible asset to the city.鈥�