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Restaurant Revitalization Program
Restaurant Revitalization Program
New York City’s restaurants have always been the backdrop for life’s most important moments: first dates, wedding anniversaries, after work happy hours, and graduation celebrations. But due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many of our city’s restaurants are in jeopardy of closing their doors for good.
That’s why in the summer of 2020, the Mayor’s Fund teamed up with NYC Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity), the NYC Human Resources Administration, and the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity (TRIE) to raise money to keep many of our city’s restaurants in business.
We designed this program knowing that essential workers deserved essential pay and that we could work with restaurants to combat food insecurity by providing meals to New Yorkers hit hardest by the pandemic.
The amount of support the Mayor’s Fund received from business leaders, community organizers, and everyday New Yorkers for our COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund was overwhelming. With the help of our supporters, we contributed $1.4 million to the Restaurant Revitalization Program. Together with funds from the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity and One Fair Wage, we helped more than a hundred restaurants by giving them vital grants to keep their businesses going and their communities fed.
Restaurant participants were awarded up to $30,000 each to pay wages of $20/hour to subsidized employees for up to 12 weeks, and committed to paying a full minimum wage of $15/hour with tips on top within the next 3-5 years.. Restaurants donated over 100,000 meals to their communities, providing vital support as the city navigated the worst food security crisis in recent memory. Restaurants also committed to increasing gender and racial equity in their workplaces, and to engaging in high road employment practices that would improve conditions for their staff. In addition, the Mayor's Fund and the City partnered with One Fair Wage (OFW)—a nationally-recognized advocacy organization working to raise standards across the restaurant industry—to launch its High Road Kitchens (HRK) program in New York City, making $1 million available to support local restaurants.
However, New York City is still on the road to recovery and local restaurants are still struggling to make ends meet. The Mayor’s Fund has committed to continuing the Restaurant Revitalization Program and supporting our city’s most treasured institutions. We've set a goal of raising an additional $400,000 to support the original program grant recipients. The funds we are raising will leverage an additional new grant of $500,000 in public funding and will ensure that up to 60 restaurants get additional support.
By contributing to the Restaurant Revitalization Program, not only are you throwing a lifeline to many of our city's restaurants, you are also investing in a more equitable New York City.