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This Federal Program to Aid Restaurants and Street Vendors Is Working

Oscar Perry Abello

May 25, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

In just its first few weeks of existence, the U.S. Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund approved more than $6 billion in aid to 38,000 restaurants and other food vendors suffering economically from pandemic shutdowns. The aid program's rollout was more effective than the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020, in that it successfully targeted businesses owned by women, veterans, and "socially or economically disadvantaged people." It was helped in outreach to businesses by organizations such as Mission Economic Development Agency and New York's Street Vendor Project.

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In Nashville, Using Loan Guarantees to Fund Affordable Housing Preservation

Jared Brey

May 25, 2021 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Nashville, Tennessee

Urban Housing Solutions, a Nashville nonprofit housing developer, made a $19.2 million investment to preserve 165 apartments for people earning in the mid-30s. In a tight and expensive housing market where aggressive investors often outflank nonprofits seeking to provide lower-cost housing, UHS financed the purchase with a bank loan that will earn the lender state tax credits and that was secured by four philanthropic foundations' funds as collateral. The transaction was a first in Nashville for the use of community investment tools to preserve lower-cost housing.

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These co-op restaurants didn't need to open indoor dining to survive the pandemic

Jaisal Noor

May 20, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

Two Baltimore restaurants, Red Emma's and Joe Squared, show how running or starting as worker-owned cooperatives gave them pandemic-survival skills in a business climate that killed many other small businesses. By tapping into larger networks providing financing on favorable terms and other expertise, these co-ops used their workers' ingenuity to offer services that didn't depend on sit-down dining. Like many co-ops, they were able to survive the pandemic and preserve jobs where so many traditionally run businesses were not.

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'The Beachcombers' town is now famous for fighting climate change

Alanna Mitchell

May 18, 2021 |

Broadview Magazine |

Text |

Over 3000 Words

Response Location: Canada, Gibsons, British Columbia

A hit TV show in the 1970s and ‘80s called The Beachcombers brought the town of Gibsons and its logging practices into homes across Canada. After years of pollution and land degradation, it became one of the first towns in the world to incorporate nature into the municipality’s finances. Developers have to take stock of what natural infrastructure is on their property before they build. The town also launched an initiative to encourage other places to calculate the value of their green infrastructure. So far, 30 of them have signed up across the Great White North.

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San Francisco's Filipino Cultural District Keeping Hope Alive After a Tough Year

Oscar Perry Abello

May 18, 2021 |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

“UNDSCVRD SF," funded by the SOMA Community Stabilization Fund and produced by the nonprofit Kultivate Labs, is a night market held once a month from July to November that features a range of Filipino vendors. There were over 35,000 attendees in 2019 and it generated $300,000 in sales. It also serves as a testing ground to select businesses for Kultivate Labs’ SEED Accelerator Program and grantees for the SOMA Fund. The former provides bootcamps and one-on-one support for Filipino-owned businesses that are located in, or would like to be located in, a permanent space within the SOMA cultural district.

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How to Start (and Run) a Bank That Puts People and Planet Over Profits

Oscar Perry Abello

May 17, 2021 |

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Over 3000 Words

Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

San Francisco-based New Resource Bank was launched with environmental sustainability lending as its niche. But it pursued easier profits for a time, risking its survival and mission until a new CEO turned its fortunes around with a laser focus on the original mission, bolstered by learning its borrowers' businesses intimately. The bank doubled in size and merged with a larger bank, making itself a model for mission-driven lending in such businesses as solar, wind energy, and organic foods – and by attracting institutional depositors and investors as interested in social change as they are in profits.

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‘Solar For All' Brings Clean Energy to Low- and Middle-Income DC Residents

Ambika Chawla

May 14, 2021 |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Washington, District of Columbia

An initiative to bring solar power to public housing in D.C. is helping residents of Jubilee Housing. Community solar, which shares the electricity generated amongst multiple households, makes solar energy an affordable option. Solar credits can provide a significant relief to households that need it most.

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Will This Impact Fund Save America's Music Venues?

Rebecca Greenwald

April 30, 2021 |

Next City |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Louisville, Kentucky

The Live Venue Recovery Fund offers a path for independent music operators to purchase their venue. The fund buys the properties, and collects rent, but are limited to a 12% return rate and the contract lays out a path and timeline of operator ownership. Any additional funds are donated to the National Independent Venue Association. Eligible venues must be seen as culturally significant to the community and vulnerable to redevelopment, as well as show strong financial statements from before COVID-19. The fund forgave a year of rent to some venues hurt by the pandemic, allowing them to get back on their feet.

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How going solar is helping U.S. schools save millions

Nikolay Nikolov

April 29, 2021 |

Mashable |

Video |

5-15 Minutes

Response Location: United States

School districts in the United States are switching to solar power to save money on utilities and sell extra power back to the power grid. They use the savings to increase teachers' pay and upgrade facilities like buses and computer labs.

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College Accounts at Birth: State Efforts Raise New Hopes

Patricia Cohen

April 27, 2021 |

The New York Times |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Oklahoma

SEED for Oklahoma Kids is a statewide effort to help newer generations climb the educational ladder and build assets. Parents are offered $1,000 in their newborn's name and set aside in a college savings account, destined to be used for pursuing college or trade school education. The concept of the program is not unique to Oklahoma. Other states like Nebraska, Illinois, Maine, Pennsylvania, and more have implemented similar programs. "Automatic enrollment in a saving program, with the ability to opt out, turns out to have a much higher participation rate than relying on individuals to take the initiative."

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