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Penn class helps the formerly incarcerated launch their own businesses

Christina Griffith

June 16, 2021 |

The Philadelphia Citizen |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania's Restorative Entrepreneurship Program helps formerly incarcerated entrepreneurs plan a business launch with the help of teams of students from the schools of law, business, and social work serving as advisors. Success in business can help formerly incarcerated people avoid return trips to prison. Similar, longer-running programs in other states have helped their clients beat the recidivism odds. Clients of the Penn program received useful advice, but no startup capital, as they seek to start their own businesses.

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Local Platforms for Online Food Delivery Are Eating the Big Guys' Lunch

Oscar Perry Abello

June 15, 2021 |

Next City |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Lexington, Kentucky

Locally owned restaurant delivery platforms charge lower commissions than national giants like GrubHub, allow customers to order food on smart-phone apps, and have found ways to be profitable while also keeping money in local economies. While platforms differ by locale, cooperative models are increasingly popular. For example, Delivery Co-op in Lexington, KY provides customers with unlimited deliveries for a monthly fee, charges participating restaurants a flat monthly fee, and pays drivers a base salary plus tips, with benefits kicking after three months of full-time work and profit-sharing after one year.

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Co-ops are democratizing the food chain

Jaisal Noor

June 10, 2021 |

The Real News Network |

Video |

Under 3 Minutes

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The food-supply business is known for exploitative pay and poor working conditions. But Brooklyn Packers, a Black-owned cooperative launched in 2016, pays its owner-workers and vendors fair wages and is founded on traditions in the Black community of food sovereignty and mutual aid. Those values paid off at the start of the pandemic, when demand for fresh produce deliveries exploded. Brooklyn Packers retooled its business model to meet the demand, showing that a non-hierarchical business can move quickly.

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Cities Are Boosting the Economy by Rewarding Those Who Shop Local

Sakshi Udavant

June 03, 2021 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Akron, Ohio

Akron, Ohio, is “creating a circular economy” in hopes of helping small businesses and encouraging residents to shop locally. A city-sponsored app, Akronite, is used by consumers to make purchases and earn reward points which can be redeemed for discounts and other perks. The app’s success is clear in the high return on investment, which shows $9 generated for every dollar invested by the local government. Other cities across the country are also adopting the initiative, tweaking it to their own communities.

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Sew it goes: The Sewing Machine Project stitches lives back together

Richard Mertens

June 03, 2021 |

The Christian Science Monitor |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Madison, Wisconsin

The Sewing Machine Project has helped thousands of people who rely on sewing as a livelihood. The organization refurbishes used sewing machines and sends them across the world. For some recipients, access to their own sewing machine can result in economic mobility and an improved quality of life.

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A new Oakland-based incubator helps small businesses step up their game

Ricky Rodas

May 27, 2021 |

The Oaklandside |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

An incubator is bringing business services and training to entrepreneurs in Oakland. The Port Product Lab is free of cost and helps businesses improve their products.

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Food waste is heating up the planet. Is dumpster-diving by app a solution?

Katie Yoder

May 25, 2021 |

Grist |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

The app Too Good to Go helps restaurants and other shops prevent food waste by selling their extra food to people for a cheaper price. So far, more than 700,000 people in the United States have downloaded the app and the company estimates that, on average, each meal sold halts 2.2 pounds of food from ending up in the garbage, which ends up reducing carbon emissions. There are challenges to widespread implementation, but the app has launched in New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and Seattle.

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This South L.A. startup will turn your front lawn into a farm

Adele Peters

May 25, 2021 |

FastCompany |

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Under 800 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

A startup in California called Crop Swap LA is converting unused front yards into community gardens that can grow crops like kale, rainbow chard, and tomatoes as a way to feed neighbors. Community members can pay for subscriptions for up to $43 a month to receive a bundle of greens and vegetables from the microfarms and homeowners get a share of the profits. Each garden needs to have the proper maintenance, which can make it difficult to scale, but these gardens can help provide access to food to those who don’t have a grocery store in their area.

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

Oscar Perry Abello

May 18, 2021 |

Next City |

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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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