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Coronavirus crisis in France: The battle to save the livelihoods of the self-employed

Ingri Bergo

May 22, 2020 |

The Local |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: France

The French government has spent billions to keep small businesses afloat during the coronavirus lockdown in hopes that the stopgap funding will ensure a quick economic recovery once the health crisis abates. The funding has been on a national and regional level, with extra funding for those who have been rejected for bank loans and are suffering the most. Small businesses are also exempt from rent, gas, or electricity payments until the country reopens. The distribution of funding has come with its challenges as some business fall through the bureaucratic cracks.

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This Nonprofit Helps Small Business Aid Go Where it Usually Doesn't

Oscar Perry Abello

May 21, 2020 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

An American nonprofit called the Community Reinvestment Fund expands access to small business loans by partnering with almost two dozen groups across the country to set up and scale up their community development lending. Founded in 1988, the group essentially takes on the risk of a SBA license so that others could benefit from their license. They created an online platform called Spark that redesigned the user interface of the existing loan processor platform to better facilitate the exchange of money. They have now supported loans for 1,000 communities across 49 states.

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How Louisiana cities are using the CARES Act to save small businesses, keep people in homes

Christiaan Mader

May 19, 2020 |

The Current (Louisiana) |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Louisiana

The Cares Act is a federal program providing $46.6 million dollars of emergency aid which cities in Louisiana are spending on a combination of a mortgage and rent relief or on the needs of small businesses. For most cities throughout the state, the first priority is keeping residents in their homes as the stay on evictions approaches, at which point landlords will expect rent as well as backpay. Louisiana faces the triple threat of a pandemic, the economic fallout from it, and a series of tornados. Keeping people in their homes has been the foremost priority to stop the spread of the virus.

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Formerly Incarcerated Women Launch Worker-Owned Food Business During COVID-19

Oscar Perry Abello

May 14, 2020 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Chicago, Illinois

ChiFresh Kitchen is a worker-owned cooperative that gives formerly incarcerated people an income, and a second chance, under a corporate structure that attacks high unemployment from the ground up. Formed as a catering business on Chicago's West Side just as the pandemic shutdown began, ChiFresh shifted its intended clientele from nursing homes and schools to food-relief programs distributing free meals. The co-op, initially formed by mostly black women with hopes of scaling up to about 100 worker-owners, echoes the sorts of enterprises formed in response to Jim Crow restrictions of the past.

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Playas del Coco turns to bartering as a payment method during the pandemic

Eduardo Costa

May 07, 2020 |

La Voz de Guanacaste |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Venezuela, Carrillo, Guanacaste

A community in Guanacaste has turned to a bartering system during the coronavirus pandemic to help connect those who are out of work with the supplies they need to live. Similar to an existing program in France, the initiative "consists of being able to use barter or exchange services or products as a means of payment, avoiding the use of money due to lack of income."

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The Business of Burps: Scientists Smell Profit in Cow Emissions

Adam Satariano

May 01, 2020 |

The New York Times |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom, Lancaster, England

A company called Mootral is studying whether changing a cattle’s diet could make the animals belch and flatulate less methane. They created a food supplement out of compounds from garlic, citrus, and other additives, that in early tests, has shown a decrease in a cow’s emission of the greenhouse gas. If they can get investors on board and scale it to different breeds of cows and in different climates, it could help the agricultural and farming industries to combat climate change.

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Community Development Lenders Turning to Fintech for a Boost During Crisis

Oscar Perry Abello

April 30, 2020 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

CNote has provided a source of funding for federally certified Community Development Financial Institutions by pooling cash from foundations, bigger banks, philanthropists, and donor-advised funds to counter the lack of available cash flow experienced by CDFIs, which are lenders but not banks. Federal COVID-19 funding set aside $30 billion specifically for CDFIs that overwhelmingly lend to women- and minority-owned businesses, which face persistent racial and gender biases and are unable to successfully tap into lending and grants such as the Paycheck Protection Program through traditional lenders.

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Banking on community, local lenders secure PPP loans for businesses

Mara Abbott

April 29, 2020 |

Buffalo Bulletin |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Johnson County, Wyoming

Community banks in Wyoming were able to better serve local businesses in securing federal funds from the Paycheck Protection Program. The smaller banks were able to quickly pivot their staffing and operations need to process the overwhelming number of applicants, resulting in an approval rate of 100 percent in some counties. Personal connections in the smaller communities also led banks to work overtime and do everything in their power to help local businesses, in contrast to big banks which appeared to prioritize clients with higher net worth, according to reports.

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Working Capital for Economic Justice Comes in Handy During a Crisis

Oscar Perry Abello

April 28, 2020 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

A nonprofit called Common Future is acting quickly to support business owners during the coronavirus crisis. Their board allocated a set amount of money specifically to keep on hand as a rapid response fund, and by early April 2020, they distributed $250,000 in emergency funding to seven organizations. The recipients are intentionally from disadvantaged communities, like rural, black, Indigenous, and other hard-hit demographics. Each organization used the money in different ways to support their target communities. Common Future also set aside 6 months' worth of operating expenses as a buffer.

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Dumplings Against Hate

Brianna Baker

April 20, 2020 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The NYC-based campaign, Dumplings Against Hate, has raised tens of thousands of dollars for Asian Americans for Equality’s Emergency Small Business Relief Fund by bringing together a virtual community of support. As the COVID-19 pandemic picked up in early 2020, Chinatown restaurants and businesses saw a decrease in revenue because of xenophobia and racism, inspiring the group’s creation. Since then, it’s acted as a model for similar groups across the country, and is creating a toolkit for cities to create their own campaigns.

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