LGBTQ-Owned Restaurants to Get $2M in Relief
Grubhub, NGLCC to distribute grants; applications open until October 12
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
The food delivery giant Grubhub and
the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce
(NGLCC) are providing some
relief to LGBTQ-owned and allied
businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On September 22, the groups announced
that applications are now open for the NGLCC/
Grubhub Community Impact Grant Program,
an initiative offering $2 million in funding to
LGBTQ-owned businesses and eateries that
support the queer and trans community. To
be eligible, bars, cafes, and restaurants must
serve food and prove they are queer-owned or
allied and experienced economic hardship due
to COVID-19. NGLCC Co-Founder and President
Justin Nelson said he hopes the funds
help cash-strapped owners get back on their
feet.
“We often say at NGLCC that ‘If you can buy
it, an LGBTQ+-owned business can supply it.’
That is especially true of the LGBTQ+-owned
restaurants across America who kept our communities
and fi rst responders fed throughout
the pandemic,” Nelson said in a written statement.
“America’s 1.4 million LGBTQ+-owned
business owners have shown incredible resilience
during the COVID-19 pandemic, and now,
in turn, we can help them recover stronger than
ever.”
Kevin Kearns, senior vice president of restaurants
at Grubhub, underscored that LGBTQowned
and allied businesses are “often the pillars
of their communities” and demonstrated
“incredible strength” despite economic loss
during the pandemic. As businesses reopen,
he added that it’s vital to lend support to queer
➤ CHILD CARE, from p.10
87,000 people statewide were working parttime
because of problems securing childcare,
according to the Task Force report, and more
than 5,000 were not working at all.
Additionally, Moran said, young children
benefi t from high-quality early education and
socialization, especially if they’ve been cooped
up inside with just their family members during
the pandemic. Making sure that those kids
have somewhere to go where they will be safe
and supported is critical, she said.
Much of a Sept. 29 Zoom meeting focused on
care out of the home, but Katy Cecen, a local
midwife and lactation consultant, said parents
should be given more options if they want to
stay at home and take care of their young children.
BUSINESS
LGBTQ-owned restaurants, bars, and cafes are slated to receive $2 million in funding from Grubhub and the National LGBT Chamber of
Commerce.
businesses.
Awardees can expect grant funds ranging
from $5,000 to $100,000, according to the
press release. In an effort to support marginalized
business owners, Grubhub and the
NGLCC are allocating 30 percent of the grant
funds to establishments owned by people of
color and the trans/gender non-conforming
community.
Several LGBTQ spots in New York City did
“If we’re paying child care providers to take
care of children zero to two, but there’s no option
for people who want to take care of their
own children primarily during that time, we’re
essentially saying it’s work that’s worth being
compensated for if somebody else is doing it,”
Cecen said. “It’s only fi nancially valuable to
the state if somebody who’s not biologically or
otherwise related to the child is providing the
care.”
Cecen said giving the money that would be
spent on child care directly to parents who may
be choosing to stay at home was worth considering.
In his time in the senate, Brisport said, he’s
seen a number of “tweaks” to child care policies,
moving toward the goal of universal child
REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ
not survive the pandemic. The Big Gay Ice
Cream Shop closed its fi rst location in the East
Village earlier this year, and last year Therapy,
an LGBTQ bar in Hell’s Kitchen, closed for
good.
The NGLCC and its partners will review applications
after October 12. In November, some
of the program’s top winners will receive their
award at the NGLCC Back To Business (B2B)
Summit in Hollywood, Florida.
care but never quite achieving it.
Child care amounts to “secondary rent,” for
many families, he said, and even the less expensive
options can be prohibitive.
“I think that paying a lot for child care is
good, because that means that the providers
are paid well, but in terms of the burden on
parents — your typical working-class parents
can’t do that,” Brisport told Brooklyn Paper.
A socialist, he thinks public services should
be free at the point of service and is willing to
fi ght to make that reality.
“It seemed almost like a perfect match that as
a socialist who is chairing this committee, that
we should be fi ghting for universal childcare,”
he said. “Due to the nature of Albany politics in
general and the previous governor, I think a lot
of people felt it was out of reach.”
GayCityNews.com | October 7 - October 20, 2021 11
/GayCityNews.com
