Click here to donate to an EMERGENCY AID FUND for licensed beauty professionals who are unable to work due to COVID-19.

Before you read the petition below and the updates that follow, I want to clear up some misunderstandings that have been perpetuated over the last couple weeks.

I indeed wrote the following petition. I am a licensed stylist in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a mother of 3 great kids, a wife to a very supportive woman, and I am currently unemployed thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the first petition I've ever written. I've only ever signed petitions on this website before, so there is a long list of things I did not know until AFTER I wrote this petition. Change.org will try to collect money from you after you sign this petition. This money is used to PROMOTE the petition itself. It does not go into a relief fund if you donate to change.org PBA is short for Professional Beauty Association and they are ROCKSTARS. This organization reached out to me to see if I would help them gain support for a RELIEF FUND payable DIRECTLY to licensed professionals. THIS is the link that you see at the top of this page, this is the donation I want EVERYONE to make (see my update from Sat March 3/28). A $1 donation from everyone who signed this petition would put $1M into their relief fund, allowing them to help even more of us! I am not scamming anyone out of anything! I have been encouraging everyone to apply for eligibility to the PBA Charity's Covid-19 Relief Fund, REGARDLESS if they can donate or not. Just go see their info page by clicking HERE But please, try to find the information first before making assumptions. I started all this to help my industry. If you have any questions at all, please reach out to me directly! I can be reached at unitingbeauty@gmail.com or on IG @uniting_beauty or on FB at Uniting Beauty

With the impending opening of the economy across the country, it is vital that ADDITIONAL FUNDING be allocated to our industry so that we have the financial means to pay for the PPE (personal protective equipment) and sanitation products that will be necessary to help keep our communities safe after our work resumes. To ask us, the professionals that have been unemployed and UNFUNDED, to supply ourselves with this items on our own is illogical and unsustainable.

(Original Petition)

Federal Aid Package for Cosmetology/Barber/Body Work Industry

Across the country, the need for social distancing has impacted many industries. One industry in particular stands at high risk for both economic catastrophe AND infection, and that is the community of beauty/body services workers- estheticians, cosmetologists, nail technicians, barbers, massage therapists, body workers, tattoo artists/studios, tanning salon owners, etc.

Many licensed beauty/body service workers are self-employed and rely on clients' appointment fees to pay both business and personal bills. Our families are facing a long list of economic catastrophes: losing our homes, retirements, extreme debt/bankruptcy, inability to provide food for our children and/or pay for much needed health insurance. Cancellations, rescheduled appointments, and loss of child care during this novel coronavirus outbreak {COVID-19} are cause of grave concern to all who work in the beauty business as incomes plummet. Fear, anger and dread are being felt by all as our families begin to understand the monumental cost to help save our nation from the spread of the virus.

There is already no paid time off/sick leave for self-employment, so many are forced to choose between potential bankruptcy or struggling to remain open, which puts the community as a whole at risk for infection. The very nature of our industry is close contact, often in small studio spaces, where despite using our above-average knowledge of sanitation practices, we are exposed to airborne transmission with every possible cough or sneeze from our clientele. Any beauty worker infected with COVID-19 has the ability to transmit the infection quickly to his or her full book of clients on every given day, even before symptoms arise.

The need for an Economic Hardship package is immediate and should include the following;

-Emergency Medicaid Health insurance for those who are uninsured

-$100 billion in government-backed, low interest loans, to help support the the self-employment income that is disappearing

AND

-Unemployment benefits and relief aid funding of self-employed beauty/ body service workers, as we are not covered under the current proposed relief bills being voted on at the Federal level, ESPECIALLY because some of us have not been mandated to close

We the undersigned plead with our elected officials to hear our warnings and cries for help as we not only see our own economic plight but also the sacrifice of our livelihoods as we struggle to keep our communities healthy.

Respectfully,

Kristin Snyder, Salon Owner and Licensed Cosmetologist- Michigan