April Newsletter — COVID-19 Response Edition

 
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Friends,

The mission of Accelerator for America has always been to identify and develop solutions to be scaled and replicated by cities nationwide. Now, as we all confront the COVID-19 crisis, we have pivoted our work to help Mayors on the front lines.

Accelerator for America transitioned our planned April 2 meeting in Louisville, KY, into a Zoom meeting of 88 participants, including nearly 20 Mayors, Chicago's City Clerk and Philadelphia's Controller, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Carpenters General President Doug McCarron, Accelerator Partner Bruce Katz and U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO Tom Cochran. The outcome was a clear path forward for our work.

  1. The Angeleno Campaign — We created a model that we deployed in Los Angeles to solve the problems of how to physically distribute financial assistance, serve the unbanked, and serve those ineligible for federal assistance. Our thanks to our partners at Mastercard and its City Possible network, which provided the expertise and technology to make this happen. The model is now available to other cities. Learn more in this news story, this fact sheet or by contacting us to see if this model can help in your community. We will be kicking off a second wave of this campaign tomorrow in Los Angeles — the Angeleno Card initiative — and we will be sure to share updates with you.

  2. COVID-19 Relief Toolkit — Accelerator for America Partner Bruce Katz, Director of Economic Development Aaron Thomas, and Program Manager for Economic Development Charlotte White are identifying and developing promising models to deliver meaningful and rapid small business support in America's cities from which we have created a COVID-19 Relief Toolkit that we will be updating in real time. Our previously developed Investment Prospectus tool was adopted by more than 60 cities, so we will leverage that experience to inform us as we quickly act on this. Tomorrow, Bruce, Aaron, and Charlotte will also be participating in the Sorenson Impact Center's Small Business Survival Amid COVID-19 virtual convening exploring the ramifications of this crisis on micro and small businesses. We encourage you to watch.

  3. New Partnership on Infrastructure — To maximize the return on investment for American workers and underserved communities through federal stimulus legislation, we — together our partners at WSP USA, The U.S. Conference of Mayors, Meridiam NA, Mastercard’s City Possible team, ACEC Research Institute, and HNTB — have retooled our recently-launched New Partnership on Infrastructure to shape upcoming stimulus legislation. By strategically incorporating infrastructure investment into the national economic recovery plan, we can rebound from this crisis faster and create a stronger economy than we had before by rebuilding our middle class and upgrading the infrastructure on which our economy operates. These investments will also help to improve safety and mobility, combat climate change, improve access to clean drinking water, and provide transportation options to connect people with good-paying jobs. Over the last two weeks, our team has conducted 15 interviews with Mayors, policy experts, and Transit Agency Executives to create policy briefs to influence federal stimulus legislation.

  4. Mayors on the Frontlines — We are interfacing with our network daily and will continue to share and develop solutions to challenges as they emerge during this evolving crisis. We encourage you to follow us on twitter where we are highlighting how Mayors across the nation are responding to the pandemic. We are also compiling their stories here.

Please stay in touch. Share your thoughts and solutions and call on us for help. We are all in this together and our recovery will depend on how we work together.

Thanks for all that you do.

Rick Jacobs
CEO, Accelerator for America