RI Rebounds Ventilation Program

The Rhode Island Rebounds Ventilation Initiative is a $2 million program aimed at improving the indoor air quality of Rhode Island’s small businesses and reducing the spread of COVID-19.

Businesses may receive up to $10,000 in reimbursement for projects including:

• Installing higher-grade air filters

• Installing/repairing central HVAC systems

• Adding indoor air purifiers, windows, fans

• Conducting an indoor airflow and quality assessment

Businesses that are interested in participating in the Ventilation Initiative must meet several requirements, including the following:

• Be a Rhode Island based business

• Have less than $1 million in annual gross revenues

• Demonstrate a negative economic impact from the COVID-19 pandemic

• Receive no more than $10,000 from Take It Outside and the Ventilation Initiative

• Receive no more than $20,000 in total from the fours RI Rebounds small business programs (Ventilation, Take It Outside, Small Business Direct Grant, and Technical Assistance)

Don’t settle for generic Accounting & Reporting. Your restaurant’s metrics are not the same as a landscaping company. Yet, your accountant is likely providing you with the same generic reporting processed from bookkeeping software. There is a better way — a much better way. With RAS1 you have all of your bookkeeping along with customized financial reporting in your hands on a timely and accurate basis every week allowing you to stay profitable and gain control of your prime cost and operating expenses.

Pioneers for the business you love. There are many reasons why there is a number 1 in our name. In 1989, RAS1 started first in Nantucket providing bookkeeping and accounting solutions to high volume, seasonal restaurants. Over 30 years later, we are still truly the number one accounting solution for restaurants, delivering weekly processing of bookkeeping and financial reporting to a much expanded restaurant client base with longevity to customers and membership with the MRA.

Can your current Restaurant Accounting Service truthfully say that?

Arthur G. Chaprales, Founder & CEO

George A. Leonovich, Co-Founder & COO

“RAS1 has been nothing short of fantastic for the past 15 years. Before them, I had an entire corporate accounting department with a CFO and many bookkeepers. Now I simply have RAS1 with Arthur as my CFO and the RAS1 team replacing the huge overhead of an accounting department. Most importantly, I have reliable weekly bookkeeping and reporting and monthly financial statements that are fine-tuned and dialed in to all my restaurant holdings. I only wish I discovered my alternative accounting solution and moved over to RAS1 15 years sooner.”

Anthony Athanas, Jr. Owner, Anthony’s Pier 4 Restaurant Group

“14 years ago, our legendary Boston Restaurant CPA, Mr. Saul Garlick, recommended RAS1 as an alternative to our then in-house accounting department. Thank you Saul for that recommendation and thank you RAS1 for continuing to provide the optimum of bookkeeping and financial reporting standards.”

Rob Gregory, Owner Redbones, Somerville

“ For the past 19 years, I could always count on RAS1 to guide me through the financial challenges that go hand and hand with operating a very busy restaurant. The daily, weekly and monthly financial information I receive has made my life less stressful and my restaurant more profitable.”

Alan Delaney, Owner Skipper Chowder House

“In the restaurant business, you can get in trouble really fast. That’s the beauty of receiving accurate bookkeeping resulting in critical weekly and monthly reports. RAS1 lets you know where you are and where you should be like a road map, making sure percentages are in line at all times. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to operate my busy restaurant without the RAS1 road map and team approach which I have had for over 25 years.”

Gerry Manning, Owner Captain Parker’s Restaurant

March 13, 2023

NEWPORT, R.I. __ Five local organizations – the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Center, Bike Newport, FabNewport, Conexión Latina and Women’s Resource Center – recently participated in a pilot project to gain BRAVE Space certification. “B.R.A.V.E.” – an acronym for Belonging, Respect, Acceptance, Validity and Equity – certification indicates spaces the LGBTQIA+ community will feel safe, welcome, and validated.

Thanks to COVID relief funding from the Rhode Island Department of Health, the project started as a collaborative pilot between the MLK Community Center and the Newport Health Equity Zone LGBTQ+ Health Working Group (HEZ) to create a Safe Zone certification applicable to non-healthcare organizations, building upon the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island Safe Zone concept for healthcare agencies (https://www. newportri.com/story/news/local/2021/11/03/lgbtq-safe-zones-newport-certified-through-blue-cross-program/6179899001/).

To gain BRAVE certification, participating organizations must examine both client and employee relations and policies and learn how to create a truly safe and welcoming environment for the LGBTQIA+ community, all through an intersectional lens. “Intersectionality” here means the ways that systems of inequalities based on gender identity, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, class and other forms of discrimination “intersect” to create unique dynamics and effects (Center for Intersectional Justice).

“At the MLK Community Center, we are committed to creating an environment where all persons affiliated with the Center, particularly those of us who are people of color, within the LGBTQIA+ community and/or with disabilities, are truly seen and treated with the utmost consideration, respect, and compassion,” said Heather Hole Strout, Executive Director of the MLK Community Center.

The list of 11 criteria were settled upon with the help of the HEZ LGBTQIA+ Working Group and four focus groups consisting of locals who identify with the LGBTQIA+ community. The criteria range from genderless signage for restrooms to creating inclusive hiring policies that embrace cultural and gender diversity.

While there are very concrete criteria to becoming a BRAVE Space, some criteria may already be in place, and some may take some time to implement. The goal of the project is to make significant changes in each organization’s culture and creates parameters to work toward more equitable policies and procedures in the future.

“Conexión Latina Newport is very excited to be a designated BRAVE space and publicly announce that designation. The training and organizational changes we have undergone through this process have enabled and inspired us to pay specific attention to pertinent details that we have not always been aware of, or paid enough attention to,” said Rebekah Gomez, Executive Director of Conexión Latina.

“We will be kicking off our LGBTQIA+ inclusion efforts by hosting a Domestic Violence Prevention Campaign workshop specifically tailored to LGBTQ youth ages 13-17 years old, and the unique issues that they face. It will be Conexión Latina’s first specifically focused event for the community, and I consider it to be an important step in our BRAVE Space work,” she said.

“The Women’s Resource Center becoming a BRAVE Space isn’t the end, but a start to ensuring that we are creating inclusive spaces and services that every individual feels safe and empowered to access,” said Jessica Walsh, Executive Director of the Women’s Resource Center.

“The BRAVE Space workshops have informed the team on how to increase inclusiveness, which enhances our ability to serve all students with equity,” said Steve Heath, Executive Director of FabNewport.

“The BRAVE Space training and certification was an exceptional experience for the Bike Newport team, and we are grateful to be part of the inaugural group,” said Bari Freeman, Executive Director of Bike Newport.