August Newsletter
10 Communities – One Goal
The success of our Angeleno Card initiative, which distributed more than $36M to help more than 100,000 individuals in Los Angeles, sparked the Open Society Foundations to provide a generous grant for the Accelerator — alongside our partners at Mastercard City Possible — to adapt and expand the initiative into eight additional cities and two states. (Read more about the expansion here).
Our teams are in constant contact and we meet formally every other week to share updates, address challenges and identify best practices.
Spotlight: Connecticut and Chattanooga
In Connecticut, the team at 4-CT has launched a statewide program to provide direct financial assistance to undocumented residents through a prepaid "4-CT Card." These debit cards are distributed via a network of community health centers that also offer COVID-19 testing and other health services when residents pick up their cards.
In Chattanooga, the local nonprofit La Paz has established a program to provide prepaid debit cards to Latinx families in Chattanooga and surrounding areas that have experienced extreme economic hardship due to COVID-19. Many of these families face the additional barrier of being ineligible for financial assistance from relief programs that rely on government funds. You can donate to the Connecticut program here and to the Chattanooga program here, and stay tuned for updates from the other communities with which we're working.
America's New Playbook for Infrastructure
Last month, we shared that more than 400 elected, government and industry leaders from across the country joined us for the release of “America’s New Playbook for Infrastructure” that aligns national infrastructure policy with local priorities including inclusive hiring, training and supporting the growth of small and minority-owned businesses.
Since then, we've been sharing the Playbook with key leaders on Capitol Hill, including Congresswoman Karen Bass, Representative Grace Napolitano, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, Representative Jim Clyburn, Representative Charlie Crist and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio. And on Tuesday, August 4, Accelerator for America Co-Founder and Advisory Council Chair Mayor Eric Garcetti and New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell convened a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Infrastructure Task Force that was centered on the Playbook's recommendations. You can watch the meeting here.
The meeting featured opening remarks by U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema (AZ), a discussion with Chairman DeFazio, and an update from USCM Vice President and Mayor of Dayton, OH Nan Whaley. Check out the Playbook below and share it with your networks — it's a roadmap to create a more inclusive and resilient economy.
For more information on how you can get involved, please contact our Campaigns Director for Transit & Infrastructure, Helen Hwang, at helen@acceleratorforamerica.org.
Congratulations to:
Mayor Andy Berke and his team in Chattanooga for the recent launch of HCS EdConnect with Hamilton County Schools, the first digital equity initiative in the U.S. to offer free internet to every family with a child on free or reduced lunch. Providing universal access to high speed broadband is a policy focus of our New Playbook for Infrastructure and was heavily shaped by Mayor Berke's work. Read more here.
Our friends at NICO who have been working to localize wealth creation and broaden access to neighborhood equity in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles through the world's first Neighborhood Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT). Community leaders from neighborhoods across the country are interested in implementing NICO's model where they live. Learn more here.
FUSE Corps Fellow Angeline Johnson who joined Kansas State Senator Barbara Bollier, Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple and business leader Darrius Wright for a virtual roundtable discussion on effective, multi-stakeholder economic development in underdeveloped communities. The Accelerator has partnered with FUSE through grants from the Irvine Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation to work with a cohort of Fellows to help them attract inclusive investment to the communities in which they are placed. Watch the roundtable here.
In the News:
EESI: Q&A — New Infrastructure Playbook Calls for Adaptable Federal Policy
The Pulse: Chattanooga Chosen For Accelerator For America’s National Financial Assistance Initiative
Chattanooga Times Free Press: COVID-19 makes racial health disparities more pronounced in Chattanooga, U.S.
Transportation Today: Mayors, policy leaders release playbook for infrastructure
The Bond Buyer: Coalition wants to transform federal funding of infrastructure
Engineering News-Record: Coalition of Mayors, Industry Players Release Infrastructure Playbook
Smart Cities Dive: Playbook urges 'overhaul' in infrastructure financing, planning
Smart Cities Dive: Accelerator for America distributes $750K in COVID-19 aid
Bisnow: My New Normal — Illinois Medical District CEO Dr. Suzet McKinney