Posts in Media Coverage
Route Fifty: The Wide Gaps Between Minority and White Business Ownership in America’s Cities

This week, Accelerator for America, a group that focuses on economic development, infrastructure and other issues in cities, along with Drexel University’s Nowak Metro Finance Lab, released a data analysis tool that gives city leaders and others a way to get a clearer understanding of how these disparities in business ownership look.

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The Philadelphia Citizen: The Virus and the City — A Tool for Equitable Recovery

The Covid-19 crisis is America’s greatest economic shock since the Great Depression. It’s landing hardest on small businesses, the heart of local economies and community life. This social upheaval from the pandemic has also sharpened our focus. Over the past several months, the Nowak Metro Finance Lab at Drexel University has partnered with Accelerator for America and The Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth to develop the Small Business Equity Toolkit.

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The Atlantic: How the president can partner directly with America’s biggest cities and suburbs

Cities and their inner suburbs need an immediate lifeline from Washington to stabilize their finances after the devastation of the pandemic. But once those communities regain their balance, they could become crucial allies for Biden. By working with big metros, the president would be aligning federal policy with powerful economic, social, and electoral trends—and empowering local officials overwhelmingly sympathetic to his core objectives.

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ABC 4: Raise Up SLC begins distributing ‘Salt Laker Cards’ to those most impacted by COVID-19

Some Salt Lake City residents most impacted by COVID-19 are receiving ‘Salt Laker Cards’, courtesy of a community nonprofit-led fundraiser.

Raise Up Salt Lake City began distributing $500 cash cards – Salt Laker Cards – to community members on Dec. 7. The no-fee credit card will assist city residents and families who don’t qualify for or couldn’t access federal stimulus money due to their immigration status and personal situations and fall below 80% AMI.

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Smart Cities Dive: The 10 cities in the most 'financial distress' — report

To help alleviate financial stress, cities from Philadelphia to Los Angeles have used some of their federal coronavirus relief funds to help residents pay rent or utilities. Nonprofits like Accelerator for America have also stepped in by raising over $10 million to provide relief in the form of prepaid debit cards to local residents, particularly those who are unbanked and undocumented.

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MarketWatch: Government is partnering with big banks, fintech to speed payments to Americans

As Los Angeles sought to disburse relief funds to its poorest residents at the height of the pandemic, it found itself in uncharted territory.

Unlike state and federal entities that process unemployment claims and tax refunds, cities typically lack the infrastructure to make payments to individuals. So Los Angeles turned to the private sector for assistance, working with Mastercard Inc. MA and economic-development nonprofit Accelerator for America on a program that collected private donations, partly via text message, and distributed funds to qualified residents on prepaid “Angeleno” debit cards.

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