TACOMA, Wash. — As businesses start to reopen across Washington following the COVID-19 shutdown, a new website is hoping to ease the transition.
The group behind the Rebound and Recovery website say it was created almost as a self-help tool for business owners.
Created by SiteCrafting in Tacoma for the Association of Washington Business, the site was designed to help business owners get ready to welcome back customers.
Businesses can find connections to local providers of personal protective equipment as well as a toolkit to help them make a plan to reopen. The toolkit includes a safe work plan template, posters and handouts, employee and visitor logs and more.
SiteCrafting spent two weeks developing the site and the head of the company said it taught him what it will take to reopen.
“In our company we keep referring to this time as the infinite pivot where every day there's a new opportunity, but we also have to pay attention to how do we -- how are we resilient -- how do we find ways to connect customers and find ways to provide resources to other businesses,” Brian Forth with SiteCrafting told KIRO 7.
George Riddell of Big House Productions says his company will take advantage of the site for one big reason.
“I will have to provide (PPE) to my employees, and I would much rather buy them from Washington businesses,” said Riddell.
With the restrictions currently in place due to the coronavirus, companies need help navigating the process of getting back to business.
“Our phone had been ringing for some time about, ‘Hey, I am looking for a guide, a toolkit, a template to help me go through the process of reopening,” President and CEO of the Association of Washington Businesses, Kris Johnson said.
At launch, the site had roughly 40 Washington manufacturers listed for making PPE and received 192 requests on the first day. The number of manufacturers and types of products offered is expected to grow.
Reboundandrecovery.org is free to use and available to all Washington businesses.