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DSLBD outlines Main Streets and small‑business programs; committee presses for clearer oversight and data
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Summary
Director Rosemary Suggs Evans reviewed DSLBD programs including Main Streets, the Empowerment Fund and district loan activity. Councilmembers used the hearing to press DSLBD on Main Streets oversight, board composition, reporting and CBE compliance related to a separate settlement involving lottery vendors.
Director Rosemary Suggs Evans told the Committee on Business and Economic Development on Feb. 19 that the Department of Small and Local Business Development had expanded programs and grants for FY24, including funding to support commercial corridors, workforce reentry entrepreneurship and sustainability training for Certified Business Enterprises (CBEs).
Programs and outputs cited by DSLBD: - Made in D.C. and retail supports: The department said it helped operate a “Made in D.C.” holiday booth and reported supporting 31 artisans and creators, generating more than $50,000 in sales for those participants. - Main Streets and grants: DSLBD said the Main Streets program awarded more than 900 subawards totaling roughly $1.3 million in FY24 and that the retail grant program disbursed $10,000 awards to 68 brick‑and‑mortar businesses. - District Connect and workforce: DSLBD reported hosting District Connect with about 450 participants in FY25, connecting CBEs with contracting and capital providers, and launching youth and reentry entrepreneurship pilots. - Empowerment Fund and clean‑team pathways: DSLBD described a $300,000 Empowerment Fund to support people who work in commercial‑corridor clean teams and said it is working with DPW on CDL training and internship pathways for clean‑team employees.
Oversight questions from Council: Several Councilmembers used the hearing to press DSLBD about Main Streets governance, reporting and program oversight. Committee members asked whether Main Streets are required to post annual reports, to disclose board membership and terms, and whether DSLBD verifies reported outputs such as jobs created. Director Evans said Main Streets submit annual reports (DSLBD posts those received on its website), that DSLBD maintains contact and regular reporting with Main Street executive directors and said DSLBD will provide specific documents the committee requested.
CBE compliance and the lottery vendor settlements: Committee members also asked DSLBD about the role it plays enforcing CBE subcontracting and whether DSLBD had received additional documents from the Attorney General after settlement announcements involving Intralot and Veterans Services Corporation. DSLBD said it submitted information to OAG during the AG’s inquiry, asked OAG for additional underlying documents after the settlements were announced and was told by OAG that it would not receive additional materials. DSLBD told the committee it would consult with its general counsel on whether to seek vendor consents to obtain documents; the department and OLG separately said they were pursuing vendor consents.
Quote: “We continue to work and reach out to them,” Deputy Tax Commissioner Keith Richardson said in a separate panel; Director Evans described DSLBD’s compliance process for vendor verification forms and said the department removes amounts that do not qualify as CBE spend when it identifies them.
Follow up and requests: Council members requested DSLBD provide the committee with Main Street annual reports for the last three years, recent board rosters and minutes where available, and a ward‑by‑ward breakdown of co‑op and CBE credit eligibility and awardees.
