FRK9 Brooks, a service dog with Arlington County Police Department (via ACPD)
Brooks, an eight-month-old Lab, is a new ACPD service dog in training (via ACPD)
FRK9 Brooks, a service dog with Arlington County Police Department (via ACPD)
With FRK9 Brooks as its mascot, the Arlington County Police Department is hosting a “Fill the Cruiser” pet supply drive to benefit the Animal Welfare League of Arlington.
“FRK9 Brooks has a case of puppy love and is asking for your help ensuring his furry valentines at the Animal Welfare League of Arlington have the supplies they need,” a press release said. “For more than 75 years, AWLA has served the Arlington community with animal sheltering and control services to help pet owners keep their animals healthy, happy, and home.”
The drive, this Friday, Feb. 12 from 2-5 p.m., will be held at a contactless, drive-through donation station set up outside the Animal Welfare League of Arlington on the 2600 block of S. Arlington Mill Drive.
FRK9 Brooks, who turned one in November, is being trained for this. A police service dog, his responsibilities include participating in community outreach events and helping officers deal with “strong emotions and stress that are often an inherent part of policing,” ACPD said back in August.
Suggested donations include cleaning supplies, treats, Vienna sausages, Easy Cheese, toys, pill pockets, leashes, and buckle collars. A full list of supplies AWLA can accept is available on its website.
AWLA cannot accept pillows, sheets, comforters, plastic dishes, used cat scratchers, towers, trees and litter boxes, used or extra-large dog beds or prescription medications.
On arriving, participants are asked to stay in their cars until they reach the unloading areas. Officers will be on-hand to remove donations from their vehicles.
There will be a separate area available for those arriving by bike or on foot.
Nearly one year after Arlington Public Schools closed classrooms, the end of distance learning is in sight for students and teachers.
Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Francisco Durán said today (Friday) that on Tuesday he will announce dates when students can return to their school buildings — with students expected to return by mid-March.
The forthcoming timeline for the announcement is one-and-a-half weeks ahead of Durán’s schedule. The push to announce the phased return dates next week comes in response to a press conference that Gov. Ralph Northam held this morning.
During the School Board meeting last night (Thursday), Durán told board members and listening community members that he would provide dates on Feb. 18. This morning, Northam urged all K-12 school divisions in Virginia to make in-person learning options available to students by March 15.
“Given Governor Northam’s press conference this morning, I will announce the dates in my Return-to-School Update this coming Tuesday,” Durán said in an APS School Talk update sent this afternoon. “Our timeline aligns with the Governor’s guidance.”
Principals and school staff have been preparing for student returns in March, he said.
Arlington teachers and staff have been re-entering their classrooms in phases since last week. Durán came under fire last night for not following other Virginia school divisions, which have announced firm return dates.
“I’m certainly aware of the announcements of other divisions in Northern Virginia and others that are moving forward, but we are taking the time to do what is asked… to make sure we’re safe and ready to go back in person,” he said during last night’s meeting. “I’m going to continue to make decisions to best serve the needs of students in Arlington while ensuring the health and safety of everyone.”
Student groups will return in this order:
Preschool through 2nd grade students and countywide elementary special education students
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-12
Students from grades 3-12 will learn via “concurrent instruction” models. They will remain in their current classes, with their current teachers, regardless of whether they are in-person part-time or fully virtual. Teachers will instruct both online and in-person students whether they are in the classroom or working remotely.
On Wednesday, students enrolled in select technical education courses, from cosmetology to auto collision repairs, were able to return to their classrooms at the Arlington Career Center, Durán said. Students with disabilities who need in-person supports were the first to return on Nov. 4.
This week, APS launched a health screening application for teachers and staff to use daily, providing the school system with information on who tests positive, experiences symptoms or comes in contact with coronavirus-positive people, he said. The app will be available to students and families on Feb. 18.
Meanwhile, Durán said in-person instruction and support are having a “moderate” impact on reports of positive cases and close contacts with sick individuals. He cited the following statistics on positive cases and reports of close contacts among staff and students:
This morning, Northam also encouraged school divisions to offer summer school for families who want their children to make up for any loss of learning incurred during this school year.
“The health and safety of students, educators, school personnel, and communities continues to be our top priority,” Northam said. “We know that children learn better in classrooms and that going to school is vital for their social-emotional needs and for receiving critical services like meals. It is also important for our youngest learners, students with disabilities, and those with limited access to technology who have struggled most with remote learning. By focusing on mitigation measures, we can provide our kids with safe and equitable learning environments.”
Responding to early signs of falling grades during distance learning, two former School Board members indicated their interest in summer school options in December.
Arlington-based Saint Timothy and Saint Athanasius Coptic Orthodox Church is making plans to build a new church building on a vacant lot in Green Valley that it recently acquired.
The church — which also goes by the abbreviated STSA Church — currently rents space at George Mason University’s Virginia Square campus at 3351 Fairfax Drive. It is, however, operating virtually due to the coronavirus.
STSA Church was established in Arlington in 2012 with a mission to “bring an ancient faith to a modern world,” according to the website.
Fr. Anthony Messeh, the church’s pastor, confirmed the planned expansion in an email with ARLnow, saying he will have more details in the coming weeks.
The site at 2640 Shirlington Road is a 39,867-square-foot parcel of vacant land, according to Arlington County property records, overgrown with trees and brush.
The Arlington County Board was tentatively slated to approve an easement associated with the new ownership at its meeting on Jan. 23. The item was removed from the agenda, however, because the form of the deed “is not finalized and the plat had not been approved in time for the January meeting,” said Mary Curtius, a spokeswoman with the county board office, in an email.
The item will likely come before the County Board in February or March, Curtius said.
Old blog posts and YouTube videos indicate that the church community has been looking to buy for years. In 2014, it ran a campaign to raise $2 million to purchase a building, but the attempt appears to have been unsuccessful and the campaign website no longer works.
“Unfortunately, we cannot have signage to let people in Arlington know that there is a church here to welcome them,” according to a video from 2o14. “We currently exist only on Sunday mornings as far as the community is concerned, and that lack of full-time presence has prohibited us from reaching more people.”
Arlington County is giving residents a chance to respond to proposed changes to the towing code ahead of a County Board vote.
People can share their thoughts in a short online survey before the issue is slated to go before the Board during its regular meeting on Saturday, Feb. 20.
The proposed changes are billed as getting the local code in line with the latest state law, protecting consumers and adjusting to rising costs in the towing industry, according to a staff presentation and additional materials.
Basic towing fee increases are being proposed, from $135 to $150, as well as an increase of the additional fees for night and/or weekend towing, from $25 to $30. That brings the maximum possible towing fee to $210, for a vehicle towed on a weekend night. The “drop fee” for discontinuing a tow in progress, however, will be lowered from $25 to $10.
The online survey has three questions. Among them:
“Do you support reconciling the County ordinance with state code for purposes of improving enforcement and making the ordinance easier to understand?”
“Do you support the consumer protection measures included in the proposal? These include enhancements to lighting, safety, accessibility and transparency.”
“Do you support towing fee increases given the provided financial justification?”
The survey gives the following justification for the fee increases:
In this provided justification, towing operators have indicated increased costs. Staff have included supported materials from towers and Consumer Price Index data has indicated an inflationary increase in our area. Given these economic factors and regulatory requirements that towers have to be within a 3.25 mile radius of Arlington to support private businesses, do you support raising the tow fees to the maximum fees as regulated by state?
These proposed changes come after the county determined, among other things, that some towing and pricing practices are unfair and predatory, signage about towing is inadequate, and people do not have many ways to fight back when their cars are improperly towed and stored, according to a staff report.
“The County Board has found that some members of the public and their property have been placed at risk in circumstances where their vehicles have been towed from private property without their consent and placed in storage,” the report said.
Included in the code would be an updated definition of “immobilization” to mean anything “that does not damage the vehicle,” including using barnacles.
The Arlington County Board is going to consider adding food scraps collection to its solid waste services in the 2021-22 budget.
This change would allow residents to toss their food scraps with their yard waste in the existing green bins. All the organic material would be taken to a composting facility and the new service would cost less than $12 annually for those paying the household solid waste rate, according to county staff.
“We should have more information in the spring,” Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Katie O’Brien told ARLnow in an email.
The county is mulling the move after being encouraged by positive community feedback. A majority of residents, surveyed in November and December, said they support mingling food scraps and yard waste. The survey garnered 3,973 respondents, of whom 79% supported the addition of food scraps to their organics carts, O’Brien said.
DES pushed out the feedback form to the household trash and recycling email list, which has about 27,575 people signed up for it, added DES spokeswoman Jessica Baxter.
“We believe there is a great support for the program — as evidenced by the feedback form and what we’ve heard through the years since introducing the green organics cart with year-round yard waste,” she said.
This potential service change would only be available to those who receive residential waste collection from the county — mostly people in single-family homes, as opposed to apartment and condo residents served by private waste haulers.
Arlington’s quarterly trash audits have revealed that food scraps make up more than 20% of what residents throw out. According to the county’s website, collecting food scraps would support the county’s goal of diverting up to 90% of waste from incineration by 2038.
During the week, residents would collect their fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy in a countertop pail. Once the pail fills up, residents would place the scraps — bagged in paper or compostable bags — in their green organics cart and take it to the curb on trash pickup day.
To limit odors, staff recommend lining the pail with a bag, emptying it regularly and rinsing it occasionally. Freezing the scraps also reduces odors. Like the yard trimmings, food scraps will be brought to a permitted composting facility.
The County has collected grass clippings, cut flowers, brush, hedge trimmings and leaves year-round since 2016.
Girl Scouts delivering cookies to Virginia Hospital Center in 2021 (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
Girl Scouts deliver cookies to Virginia Hospital Center (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
Girl Scouts deliver cookies to Virginia Hospital Center (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
Girl Scouts deliver cookies to Virginia Hospital Center (Staff Photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated 4 p.m.) Since Girl Scout cookie season started, troops in north Arlington have donated 671 boxes to their hometown heroes: the staff at Virginia Hospital Center.
“It’s very local and very personal,” said Dorine Andrews, the Service Unit Manager for the local scouts. “[VHC] is a real institution in Northern Virginia, and we really feel that the healthcare workers are overworked.”
One of the troops — six Glebe Elementary 3rd grade girls of Brownie troop #60229 — harnessed the power of Instagram to sell 1,415 boxes, 395 of which they donated to VHC, she said. The troop with the second-most boxes, #60160, donated 59 boxes.
“None of the other troops have really done what this troop has done in terms of social media,” Andrews said. “It really worked well.”
The third-grade entrepreneurs used Instagram to work around some limitations to the online Girl Scout cookie platform, she said.
“The system works fairly well for buying cookies online, but for any kind of custom donations, it’s very difficult,” Andrews said. “I think these girls and their parents were incredibly creative.”
The cookies will be distributed via a “sunshine cart,” which one employee volunteers to wheel through the hospital, distributing snacks to boost morale, said Hilary Phillips, the executive assistant to the president at Virginia Hospital Center Foundation.
“We are thrilled that our local Girl Scout Service Unit has adopted Virginia Hospital Center as its ‘Hometown Hero,’ collecting more than 650 boxes of cookies to share with our staff,” Phillips said in a statement. “We continue to be grateful for the incredible support we receive from the Arlington Community.”
Phillips said the foundation tries to feed staff who work directly with COVID-19 patients, which works out to about 140 people each shift. Other local organizations have also pitched in.
“Now I’m going on local people calling out of goodness of people’s heart,” she said.
Donations can be made by going to the foundation’s donation page and select “Healthy Meals for Clinical Staff by TryHungry.com.” Those who want to loop in a local restaurant through their donations can contact Phillips directly at foundation@virginiahospitalcenter.com
Those interested in donating cookies can email Andrews at [email protected].
Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Vaccine being given at Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Vaccine dose being given at an Arlington County vaccination clinic (via Arlington County/YouTube)
Arlington County Public Health Director Dr. Rubin Varghese at walk-up coronavirus testing center opening in May (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated 4 p.m.) Officials with Arlington County Public Health Division say they are not wasting coronavirus vaccine doses, but they also do not condone people getting vaccinated out of turn.
During a COVID-19 work session on Tuesday, County Board members told health division staff that their constituents frequently express concerns about line-jumping by those who do not currently qualify for vaccinations under Virginia Dept. of Health’s Phase 1b guidelines.
“Everyone knows someone who isn’t in the 75-plus category or the personnel identified yet but got vaccinated because their eye doctor, brother or psychiatrist,” Board member Katie Cristol said, listing the kinds of connections that people are allegedly using.
Arlington County Public Health Director Dr. Reuben Varghese acknowledged those fears but said that, amid everything else that’s going on, officials do not have the capacity to verify these claims. Staff members do remove people from vaccine appointments if they notice something unusual, he said.
“I have to believe that Americans as a whole and residents in Arlington are going to be truthful and not line-jump,” Varghese said. “I know people are going to say ‘you’re being naive,’ but we don’t chip people and we don’t have a national health system that we can track people. The vast majority of people have done the right thing, and because of what we’re doing in Arlington, we don’t have the conditions where I think line-jumping is going to be as likely as other places.”
Meanwhile, total confirmed COVID-19 cases in the county have reached 11,867, with 61 new cases and three new hospitalizations as of this morning (Wednesday). The seven-day trailing average of new cases has fallen over the past few days, and currently stands at about 65 cases per day, after peaking at nearly 125 daily cases three weeks ago.
“This [wave] has doubled, if not more than doubled, what we’ve been seeing in the past,” Varghese said.
Last week, Jan. 24-30, about 6,500 tests turned up 482 positive results, said Aaron Miller, the county’s emergency management director. The test positivity rate remains at 7.5%, which is high compared to most of the pandemic, he said.
According to the Virginia Department of Health, Arlington County has received 26,725 vaccine doses. The newest shipment of 2,700 doses came Monday, for a total of 9,775 doses to the health division, compared to the 16,675 total doses that have gone to Virginia Hospital Center, County Manager Mark Schwartz said. He added the online dashboard might be off by about 200 doses.
The county is also starting to prepare for a new distribution method: Yesterday, the federal government announced it will start sending vaccines to select pharmacies next week.
“Now our job is to go back to the state and figure out what it means for the state and for Arlington,” Miller said.
Varghese also refuted the claim of wasted doses. Last week’s use rate — shown in the graphic below — was so close to 100% that it “pushed the envelope,” he said. Currently, he tries to reserve 10% for the start of the next week, as new shipments come either on Monday or Tuesday.
He said if vaccines are close to expiring, the county picks groups lower down the 1B prioritization list to vaccinate. That way, the county does not encourage loitering outside the clinic at 2100 Washington Blvd. or near grocery stores for chance doses, which “creates other problems,” he said.
(The 1b group includes “Persons aged 75 and older; Police, Fire, and Hazmat; Corrections and homeless shelter workers; Childcare/K-12 Teachers/Staff; Food and Agriculture (including Veterinarians); Manufacturing; Grocery store workers; Public transit workers; Mail carriers (USPS and private); Officials needed to maintain continuity of government.”)
Meanwhile, staff members have scheduled around 1,900 appointments for those 75 and older who had their VHC appointments canceled. Of the 3,200 people in this category, about 3,000 have been contacted. They are also contacting people 75 and older who were not in the hospital’s system.
This is the only group for whom the county is rescheduling appointments at this time, Varghese said.
Those who are 65 to 74 years old or 18 to 64 years old with high-risk medical conditions should pre-register with the county, regardless of whether they had appointments with VHC.
Once people arrive at the county’s clinic, at the Sequoia Plaza office complex near Route 50 and Washington Blvd, they are greeted by a team of volunteers and nurses. According to a behind-the-scenes video from the county, between 50% and 75% of the staff manning the vaccine clinics are volunteers.
“I know there are frustrating things going on across the country and even in Arlington, but I promise once you get here you’ll have a great experience, and you’ll help end the pandemic just by getting a vaccine,” said Dallas Smith, the site director for the Arlington County Vaccination Pod, in the video.
Locals can now buy handmade pasta and sauces from a vending machine outside the future home of Stellina Pizzeria, a soon-to-open Italian restaurant and market in Shirlington.
The machine delivers food in a pandemic-friendly way and helps preview the opening of the restaurant in the former Cafe Pizzaiolo space at 2800 S. Randolph Street, co-owner Antonio Matarazzo said.
The second outpost of the Michelin-recognized pizzeria in D.C.’s Union Market was set to open at the end of 2020, but the holiday season delayed equipment and furniture shipments. It’s now slated to open “in a couple of weeks,” Matarazzo said.
Matarazzo and Chef Matteo Venini, both Italian transplants, got the idea for the vending machine in March. The pandemic had just hit the East Coast, and they were trying to find ways to deliver food to their guests.
“We did not want to just tape up a hole, but do something that could be good for the future,” Matarazzo said.
While vending machines in the U.S. just offer snacks and bottled drinks, Matarazzo said he has seen Prosecco vending machines in Europe and in Japan, “you can buy everything you want in a vending machine there,”
Granted, he said he has “never seen a pasta vending machine before.”
Like the restaurant, the vending machine was also delayed. It arrived from California — where it was custom-made — a few weeks ago, and six months late.
“It’s a tough time for everybody,” he said. “You have to be more patient these days.”
The machine will stay in Arlington until the end of spring. Then, it will move to 508 K Street NW to preview Stellina’s second location in D.C. Its flagship location opened in April 2019 at 399 Morse Street NE.
Right now, the machine has three kinds of pasta, sauces, dessert, merchandise and coffee.
Matarazzo recommends pairing the paccheri — a large, smooth tube-shaped pasta — with a bolognese sauce; the fusilli goes with ragus made with lamb and wild boar; and the tonnarelli pairs with a cacio e pepe sauce, literally, “cheese and pepper” sauce.
“That is a typical sauce from Rome, and a perfect dish for today’s weather,” Matarazzo said, referencing the recent snowfall.
For dessert, people can choose babà al rum, a 400-year-old dessert from France via Naples, or tiramisu. The coffee comes from Ready Set! Coffee Roasters, a Cleveland-based roaster run by some friends.
“This is just the start,” he said. “We’ll see what else we can put in there.”
After the pandemic, Matarazzo plans on installing 10 more in select office buildings.
He keeps tabs on the products through his phone, and said it seems like he has to restock the pasta and sauces “every two minutes.”
“People are excited about it,” he said.
Update at 10:20 a.m. — Stellina is planning to open on Friday, Feb. 12, the restaurant just announced.
(Updated at 12:30 p.m.) Girl Scouts have found a half-dozen ways to get their crave-worthy cookies to customers in spite of the pandemic. Here is how to do it.
Starting this week, people can buy cookies online and have them delivered through the Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital chapter. On Friday, troops will set-up booths in at least four locations in Arlington to sell cookies.
That is a dramatic drop-off from last year, when ARLnow counted more than 20 locations.
“I think it has to do with the fact that a lot of folks are not doing the sales this year because of the question of risk,” said Laura Loomis, a local cookie volunteer leader.
Here are the locations and schedules, according to the Girl Scouts’ cookie finder:
Virginia Square Metro Station (3600 Fairfax Drive): every Friday from Feb. 5 to March 5.
Market Common Clarendon (2801 Clarendon Blvd): every weekend from Sunday, Feb. 7 to Sunday, Feb. 21.
Rosslyn Central Place Plaza (1800 N. Lynn Street): Feb. 5, Feb. 11 and March 5
Westover Market (5863 Washington Blvd): every Saturday from Feb. 6 to March 6.
All cookie sales end March 14.
“This year we had a decrease, but of course, Girl Scouts have found a way,” said Tygerian Burke, the marketing and communications manager for Girl Scouts Nation’s Capital.
Buying cookies online works like this:
Customers can type their zip code into the cookie finder and find local troops selling cookies virtually.
When customers click the link corresponding to the troop of their choice, the link will take them to a page with a description of what the sales will go toward and directions for buying the cookies.
The cookies can be shipped to the customer’s house or to someone else as a donation.
The Girl Scouts are also having cookies delivered via GrubHub, a promotion that started in the D.C. area on Thursday, Burke said. Drivers can deliver cookies to homes within a 25 minute radius of where a scout or troop is located, which in D.C. traffic, will mean varying distances, she added.
She advised checking social media for Facebook Live promotions of GrubHub deliveries throughout the month-and-a-half of sales.
While the online option has been around for a few years, Loomis said “this is the first year where we’ve seen a growth,” which she attributed to people wishing to minimize exposure to the coronavirus.
Burke said some troops within the council are setting up drive-through locations as well as signs with QR codes linking to their personalized virtual booth pages.
Girl Scouts are selling Thin Mints, Samoas, Trefoils, Do-si-dos and Tagalongs — as well as a new cookie called Lemon-Ups — for $5 a box. Two specialty cookies, S’mores and Toffee-tastics, go for $6 a box.
The Helix, part of Amazon’s HQ2 Phase Two development at the PenPlace site (photo courtesy Amazon)
The Helix, part of Amazon’s HQ2 Phase Two development, as seen from the Mount Vernon Trail (courtesy Amazon)
The dog park in Amazon’s proposed PenPlace development (courtesy of Amazon)
The retail on 12th Street S. in Amazon’s proposed PenPlace development (Photo courtesy Amazon)
A pedestrian passageway in Amazon’s proposed PenPlace development (Photo courtesy Amazon)
Amazon has unveiled plans for the PenPlace site in the second phase of its $2.5 billion HQ2 in Pentagon City, including a lush office building shaped like a double helix.
The company will build 2.8 million square feet of office space across three 22-story buildings, an amenity building with a community gathering space and daycare center, and three retail pavilions. The focal point will be The Helix: a 350-foot tall spiraling office building that recreates a climb in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
PenPlace will also have three acres of open space with a dog run and a 250-seat amphitheater, for public use.
Amazon will start filing designs and technical documents with Arlington County Tuesday morning, Amazon spokesperson Adam Sedó said during a call with journalists on Monday.
The tech giant aims to go before the Arlington County Board by the end of 2021, with construction starting in 2022 and ending in 2025, said John Schoettler, Amazon Vice President Global Real Estate and Facilities, during the call. He affirmed that so far, HQ2 remains on-schedule.
PenPlace is bounded by Army Navy Drive, S. Fern Street, 12th Street S. and S. Eads Street. Amazon owns the entire block after it bought a hotel on the site in September. The hotel is currently being torn down.
Schoettler said Arlington County has given Amazon more flexibility for this phase than for the first phase of development on the Metropolitan Park site, which includes two, 22-story concrete office buildings, retail and open space.
“The County Board told us for PenPlace, we really want you to push the envelope,” he said. “It really gave us a clean canvas to try new things.”
The Helix will be the highlight of the site and the tallest building, said Lead Architect Dale Alberda, who works for the international architecture firm NBBJ and helped to design The Spheres within the company’s Seattle headquarters. Throughout PenPlace, he said, the designs keep employees, who will number 25,000 across HQ2, close to nature and the community.
“Amazon has been challenging us to think about how people can connect to nature not just outside when the weather is good, but inside as well, so that it’s available all day, all the time,” Alberda said.
Schoettler said Amazon is also working hard to use sustainable energy. As part of its goal of LEED Platinum certifications — and to meet its pledge to be carbon neutral by 2040 — the buildings will be powered by a solar farm in southern Virginia.
The headquarters will feature one-quarter mile of new protected bike lanes and more than 950 onsite bike spaces as well as below-ground parking for about 2,100 cars and underground loading zones for trucks. There will also be a new bus platform on 12th Street S. near the main entrance to PenPlace.
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring Shirlington Gateway. The new 2800 Shirlington recently delivered a brand-new lobby and upgraded fitness center, and is adding spec suites with bright open plans and modern finishes. Experience a prime location and enjoy being steps from Shirlington Village.
The acquisition, effective Jan. 11, folds Moonlighting’s network of 850,000 freelancers and small businesses into CareerGig’s brand, CEO and co-founder Greg Kihlström said in a statement. The merger, which will be finalized over the next few months, will make CareerGig one of the world’s largest freelancer platforms, he said.
“We are excited to have the opportunity to expand the CareerGig brand and offerings to a wider pool of freelancers and contractors, and our partnership with Moonlighting gives us the ability to accomplish this quickly and efficiently,” the CEO said.
The combined technologies and networks will enhance CareerGig’s ability to source freelancers and match them with companies, Kihlström said.
CareerGig, which officially started operating in July 2020, provides to freelancers the health and retirement benefits enjoyed by full-time employees while triple-verifying their qualifications for companies strapped for time and resources. Now, Moonlighting’s network of freelancers will have access to CareerGig’s benefits packages.
Founded in 2014 by Jeff Tennery, Ritesh Johar, and Roy Slater, Moonlighting lets freelancers build profiles and allows businesses to hire professionals quickly and affordably. Tennery, Moonlighting’s CEO, will join CareerGig as the Chief Business Development Officer and lead efforts to grow business-to-business sales and partnerships.
“CareerGig is the ideal partner for Moonlighting to take this next step in supporting freelancers around the world,” Tennery said in a statement. “Their team shares our same passion and vision to deliver the best marketplace platform for the gig economy.”
CareerGig also gives freelancers access to education and certification opportunities through partnering colleges, universities and training organizations. They can also work with established and up-and-coming technology companies in and outside of Silicon Valley, the CEO said.
CareerGig, which has an office at 3100 Clarendon Blvd, rode the wave of people who decided to take the freelancing plunge due to the way the pandemic has upended traditional work. But Kihlström, a longtime freelancer, has watched the industry grow since the early 2000s and said it is worth $440 billion in the U.S. and $1.5 trillion worldwide.
The company also recently welcomed two high-profile leaders in tech and finance to its leadership team. Banks Baker, Google’s Head of Global Product Partnerships – Search Content, and veteran financial markets executive Brad Boyse joined in December.
Baker said the startup has its sights set on meeting the needs of future workers.
“CareerGig’s freelance network is growing to become the most comprehensive of its kind, enabling the type of growth in critical parts of the workforce that the future workforce requires,” he said in a statement.
