Vice Presidential Pool Reports of March 16, 2021

VP Pool #1 VP arrival/plane change

Good morning from LA! We’re on Day 2 of VP’s trip out west to promote the relief package.

VP Harris and Emhoff arrived at the tarmac at 8:26 am. They boarded the plane at 8:29. Harris waved at the top of the stairs.

Noting transportation change today— press won’t be on AF2. Per VP’s office: The plane the Vice President and Second Gentleman took to Los Angeles had to be replaced overnight with a smaller plane because of required maintenance. Press and a majority of staff will fly on a support plane to Denver and Joint Base Andrews.

VP is now on a C37 (small plane) and press and staff are on a military C17.

Wheels up shortly for Denver area, where VP will be visiting another vaccination site and participating in a listening session with small business owners at an empanada shop.

VP Pool #2 Denver arrival

VP Harris and Emhoff deplaned at 12:31 pm. Since pool was on a different plane, not sure on timing of landing.

Lot of snow on the ground here that’s been cleared off the tarmac.

VP was greeted by Governor Jared Polis and Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera. She elbow bumped them and then walked over to the terminal with them.

Pool is now holding in the press vans.

We’re running behind, so there will be some schedule updates I will pass along.

VP Pool #3 virtual event--vaccination site

Because of scheduling delays, VP and Emhoff did the vaccination site event with Salud Family Health Centers in Fort Lupton, Colo. virtually from the terminal at the airport.

Pool was given the zoom link. Harris was on audio only. John Santistevan, President & CEO of Salud Clinic, spoke to the VP about the clinic's work. He said the clinic is one of the places getting their vaccine supply directly from the federal government to vaccinate vulnerable populations and people of color.

Harris spoke of equity as a focus for the administration in vaccine supply. "The President and I from the beginning of this have made it one of our highest priorities to make sure that we are taking into account racial disparities, and that we supply folks on the ground with the resources you need so that we have equitable outcomes," she said.

She also brought up the racial disparities task force the president set up through EO.

Harris also joked about all the snow being cleared off the tarmac. "you got some efficient folks here, so they clear the runway efficiently like only you in Colorado know how to do."

She apologized for not doing the tour in person. "So sorry we're not there in person but really do want to highlight what you are doing as a model of what a community can do to make sure that we're reaching all people and making sure that all people are vaccinated."

We will be rolling soon to the next stop -- to the empanada store for a small business listening session.

VP Pool #4 small biz listening session

Motorcade arrived at Maria's empanadas in Denver at around 1:40pm. Groups of people watched on sidewalks, with some close to the restaurant shouting, "we love you, kamala!"

Harris and Emhoff entered the room set up for the round table at 1:53 pm. Event lasted about an hour. Color and quotes:

Emhoff said in his role as SG he's been visiting small businesses and is able to tell VP over dinner what he's hearing from owners. He introduced Harris, saying it's one his favorite things to do introducing his wife as VP.

Harris: "our small businesses are really part of the heartbeat of every community, our small business leaders are not only business leaders, you are civic leaders, community leaders, role models. It is our small businesses that hire from the community, that uplift the community, that have regular customers who come in and you can recognize if they're having a bad day and you already know what they want to they don't even have to put in an order."

Harris has been telling the story of what she learned from the culinary workers operating a food bank in Nevada yesterday. She said those in need of assistance have been opening up their car trunks to pick up food boxes, but leave handwritten notes and sometimes a tip thanking the volunteers. "These families who have nothing because they've lost so much, tipping the volunteers for their generosity and recognizing the dignity of their work."

Joining Harris and Emhoff for this listening session are: Lorena Cantarovici, CEO and Founder of Maria Empanada; Jack Briggs, President & CEO of Springs Rescue Mission; Gabriela Salizar, Owner of Colorado Artisan; and Lalitha Chittoor, owner of Eco All Trading LLC.

See below from VP's office on background for the event and bio for participants. Also includes details from the ARP that relate to small businesses. VP mentioned some of them at the event.

Both Harris and Emhoff took notes as the small business owners spoke.

In telling her story, Lorena Cantarovici at one point had trouble thinking of the word "binder." She said Biden at first. Harris joked: "Both (Biden and binder) are good and very helpful."

She said she had to lay off her staff because of covid but after two rounds of PPP she has been able to hire 80% of the staff back. She said it will take at least a year or two for her business to recover.

Chittoor, who brought her daughter, said the PPP didn't help her micro business but the ARP includes her business. Her daughter asked Harris to back a global plastic policy. Harris brought up the administration's climate change efforts and said a policy staffer would follow up with her.

Harris gave a shoutout to Sen. Bennet for his work on child tax credits. And then also said "we can't mention him without mentioning" Hickenlooper for being an "extraordinary leader"

Event wrapped up at 2:47 pm.

Pool is holding. Next stop will be Denver airport.

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The primary focus for day two of the Help is Here tour is how the American Rescue Plan helps small businesses. The Vice President and Second Gentleman will participate in a small business listening session at Maria Empanada, which is owned by Lorena Cantarovici, who began making empanadas in her garage after emigrating from Argentina. By 2017, Lorena was the small business person of the year in Colorado.

Below, please find info on Maria Empanada, Lorena, and the other small business owners and local leaders participating:

Maria Empanada
CEO and Founder Lorena Cantarovici began making empanadas in her garage after emigrating from Argentina. The popularity of her empanadas quickly outpaced her home, and she opened a small shop in 2013 named after her mother and grandmother. She now has opened three locations, and her shop proudly makes each empanada by hand.

Lorena Cantarovici, CEO & Founder, Maria Empanada
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Lorena Cantarovici was raised most of her life by her single mother, Maria. She and her mother were routinely on the verge of homelessness. While working full-time to support herself and her mother, Lorena successfully obtained her degree in accounting and started working worked for Argentina's largest private bank. Settling into her new city of Denver, she made empanadas for a party and was approached by a caterer for a big order. That original order turned into several more, and Lorena quickly outgrew her home kitchen. She moved Maria Empanada to a 3,500 sq.-ft.-location in an enterprise zone in the South Broadway area of Denver. Lorena Cantarovici was the 2017 Colorado Small Business Person of the Year.

Gabriela Salizar, Owner of Colorado Artisan Center
Gabi is a Mexican-born, American citizen. Gabi has been an entrepreneur for over 30 years, and was most recently awarded Best Store On The 16th StreetMall in 2019 just before the COVID-19 pandemic started. Her business, The Colorado Artisan Center, partners with over 100 Colorado designers, to bring handcrafted, unique pieces, to be sold within the Colorado Artisan Center. Each piece represents Colorado in a meaningful way. She is a single mother of her two children – a daughter who attends University of Arizona and a son currently in high school.

Lalitha Chittoor, owner of Eco All Trading LLC
Lalitha Chittoor is the owner of Eco All Trading LLC, a small micro business, involved in wholesale trading of sustainable products such as stainless steel, bamboo, birch wood. Her business, founded in 2019, is women-owned, SBA and DBE certified, and imports goods from India and supports windowed women in India. Primary customers are restaurants, federal government, state government, school cafeterias, prison cafeterias, hospital cafeterias. Born in Chennai, India and a naturalized citizen of the US, she started this business at the behest of her daughter.

Jack Briggs, President & CEO of Springs Rescue Mission
Jack is the president and CEO of Springs Rescue Mission, which provides critically needed food, shelter, clothing and services to neighbors experiencing homelessness, poverty and addiction. Jack lived in Colorado Springs in infancy before his father, a member of the military, was transferred to Hawaii. Jack returned to Colorado Springs in 1982 to attend the United States Air Force Academy and spent the first 20 years of his 31-year military career as a pilot. He later ascended to leadership; becoming a Major General. Major General Briggs has extensive experience in Europe, including his selection as the first Olmsted Scholar to Hungary. He has flown 225 combat sorties in Operations Desert Storm, Northern Watch, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Jack has been married for 32 years, and he has three children in their 20s.

More on the policy:

• As millions of main street small businesses – especially Black- and Brown-owned small businesses – are struggling to make ends meet, the American Rescue Plan will:
• provide $50 Billion in relief for small businesses
• Allocate $15 billion in flexible grants to help the smallest, most severely impacted businesses persevere through the pandemic.
• Provide $28 billion for a new grant program to support hard-hit small restaurants and other food and drinking establishments.
• Bolster the Paycheck Protection Program with an additional $7.25 billion in funding to support small businesses and non-profits that were previously excluded.
• Invest $10 billion in successful state, local, and tribal small business financing programs to help small businesses innovate, create and maintain jobs, and provide the essential goods and services that communities depend on.

VP Pool #5 wheels up/border q

Motorcade departed the empanada restaurant at 3:31 pm and arrived at the tarmac at Denver airport at 4:04 pm.

Pool was holding in press van while Harris was in the FPO terminal for a few minutes. She boarded AF2 at 4:24 pm.

Pool is still waiting for our separate plane. Harris came over to tell reporters our plane would be here in 20 mins.

Asked if she was worried about the kids at the border, she responded: "I haven't been briefed on anything today about it, but I will when I get on the plane," as she walked away to board the plane.

Since we are still waiting for our plane, we won't be there for her arrival at JBA.