Local
Gay-owned firm joins D.C. small business bond program
Allows customers to buy $10 bonds to invest in small local companies
CFO Services Group, a gay-owned D.C. financial services consulting company, is one of six D.C. small businesses to participate in a program launched in September by Mayor Muriel Bowser that allows small businesses to raise money by offering bonds at a price of $10 each to local community investors.
The D.C. Rebuild Bond Program, which is operating in partnership with the investment marketplace company SMBX, “will enable local businesses to build, expand, and innovate,” according to a statement released by the mayor’s office.
“Local businesses represent the dreams of D.C. residents and are the backbone of our city’s economy,” Bowser said in the statement. “This tool is one more way we can work together to create jobs and opportunities in all eight wards, support our favorite small and local businesses, and uplift entrepreneurs who are invested in our people, culture, and neighborhoods,” the mayor said.
The program, which will operate under the auspices of the Office of the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Business and Economic Development, is also aimed at helping small businesses struggling from the impact of the COVID pandemic, city officials said.
Manny Cosme, president and CEO of the downtown D.C.-based CFO Services Group, also serves as treasurer for D.C.’s Equality Chamber of Commerce, an LGBTQ business advocacy group. Cosme said he and his company are pleased to be among the first six local D.C. businesses to participate in the Rebuild Bond Program to raise capital for his company.
“Instead of going to a bank, we go to small investors in the community,” said Cosme, who noted that some of the investors in the companies participating in the program are loyal customers.
Annie Eser, an SMBX official who serves as the D.C. Rebuild Bond Program Director, told the Washington Blade that SMBX sets up the bond offerings for the businesses participating in the program. She said the company also helps recruit community investors and arranges for them to buy the bonds and receive a monthly interest payment from the business on their bond investment that could be between 4 percent and 7 percent depending on the details of the bond offering.
Brandon Skall, CEO and co-founder of DC Brau Brewing, a popular brewery in Northeast D.C. near the Maryland line, said he’s pleased to have used the services of SMBX to facilitate the sale of his company’s bonds to refinance an existing loan.
“The idea of taking this interest that we would be paying to a bank or to an institution and paying it back to people who actually support our business and other small local businesses was really, really exciting for us,” Skall told the Blade.
He said several of those who bought DC Brau bonds are regular customers at the brewery’s tap room.
“And through the pandemic, we were really kept in business by people who went out of their way to support us and other businesses they cared about,” he said. “But this is a great way that they can invest in an easy format and even have more ownership of the businesses they love.”
The statement from the mayor’s office announcing the D.C. Rebuild Bond Program says it will focus on historically disadvantaged businesses in Wards 5, 7, and 8, but would be open to businesses throughout the city.
“As part of the program, D.C. businesses listed on the SMBX marketplace will benefit from no private lending fees, zero origination fees, and no personal guarantees to secure their loans,” the statement from the mayor’s office says. “They will also receive direct support from the SMBX marketing team to help them reach their goals,” the statement says.
In addition to CFO Services Group, which is located at 1101 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., and DC Brau Brewing at 3178 Bladensburg Rd., N.E., the other local businesses participating in the D.C. bond program as of this week include El Tamarindo restaurant at 1785 Florida Ave., N.W.; Sticky Fingers Sweets & Eats at 1730 Park Rd., N.W.; Maketto restaurant and retail store at 1351 H St., N.E.; and Chaia Tacos at 615 I St., N.W.
More information about the program for potential investors and small businesses can be obtained through thesmbx.com.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate next week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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