Economic development
Stimulus Command Centers
For cities and metros, 2020 was a time of unprecedented crisis, and 2021 is a time of unprecedented Federal investment. Building back from this crisis will require doing things differently. Accelerator for America is working together with Drexel's Nowak Metro Finance Lab, Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and the US Conference of Mayors, and partners across the country to organize for a transformative recovery. Properly organized local leaders can direct resources to drive local recoveries that leverage private and civic resources to create virtuous cycles of community wealth-building, racial inclusion, and resilient infrastructure. We are working with our partners to establish and scale Stimulus Command Centers as a central organizing model to coordinate recovery efforts. Stimulus Command Centers are executive-level action-focused organizing efforts made up of leaders from the public, private, and civic sectors. They will serve as the local go-to points for planning, prioritizing, and coordinating federal rescue and recovery investments, particularly in areas where we believe we can make substantial impact on racial equity, including Black and Brown small business growth, public procurement, supplier diversity and reinvigorated, reimagined commercial corridors.
COVID-19 ECONOMIC Recovery
Small Business Equity Toolkit
As a result of the economic devastation caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we — alongside our partners at Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth — developed a national Small Business Equity Toolkit, which comprises a Small Business Equity Tool and a National Inclusive Metro Recovery Playbook focused on building equity in Black, Asian, Hispanic, and women business ownership in cities across the country. The Toolkit draws from research and expert analysis as well as solutions currently being implemented in American cities , including Birmingham, Alabama, Dayton, Ohio, Los Angeles, California, and St. Louis, Missouri.
American Rescue Plan — Federal Investment Guide & Resources
On March 11, 2021, President Biden signed the historic $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) into law. There is a lot in the bill, and it’s critical that cities and metros get organized in order to maximize and equitably deploy this unprecedented level of federal investment.
Together with the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Drexel University Nowak Metro Finance Lab, and the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, we created the American Rescue Plan Federal Investment Guide to provide a categorical map of federal funding in the ARP to help local leaders and their teams accelerate inclusive local recoveries.
Angeleno Card Direct Financial Assistance
In partnership with the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, the Mayor’s Fund for Los Angeles, and Mastercard City Possible, we created and implemented a direct financial assistance to serve Los Angeles residents whose livelihoods were hardest-hit by the pandemic.
The “Angeleno Card” initiative distributed more than $36 million in assistance via 37,000+ Mastercard prepaid debit cards — “Angeleno Cards” — to help more than 100,000 Los Angeles residents. Read more here, and let us know if you’re interested in adapting the model in your city.
Angeleno Card Expansion
Based on the success of the the Angeleno Card initiative in Los Angeles, the Accelerator, in partnership with the Open Society Foundations, adapted this model into 10 additional communities — two states and eight cities. While a number of these programs continue to distribute aid, to date they have collectively distributed more than $20M in aid to help more than 30,000 people across the country. Read more about the Angeleno Card expansion here, and watch the announcement of the expansion during the John Legend and Family: A Bigger Love Father's Day Special on ABC!
Workforce Development
America’s current system of training, preparation, and matching workers with jobs has failed to evolve with the changing nature of work. Together with our sponsor the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, we created our “A New Path Forward: Place-Based Solutions for a Stronger Workforce Ecosystem" Playbook to provide local leaders and stakeholders with recommendations for and examples of successful workforce development programs from across the country.
Investment Prospectuses
In February 2018, we engaged our partner Bruce Katz and others to unravel the new Opportunity Zone legislation with the goal of helping the public sector actively steer capital into investments that deliver a return for both private investors and residents of underserved communities. As a result, communities across the country have used our Investment Prospectus Guide, which enables cities, counties and states to communicate their competitive advantages, trigger local partnerships and identify inclusive projects that are ready for public, private and civic capital.