July Newsletter

Bigger Love — Accelerator Financial Assistance Initiative Goes National


Since March, our Angeleno Card initiative — created with the City of L.A., the Mayor's Fund for Los Angeles, and City Possible powered by Mastercard — has provided direct financial assistance to L.A. residents experiencing extreme economic hardship due to COVID-19. Unfortunately, federal and other programs exclude too many immigrants, independent workers and other people essential to our communities and economy.

As of today, the Angeleno Card initiative has distributed more than $36M in private funds to help more than 100,000 individuals in Los Angeles. Accelerator for America exists to find and develop solutions to economic insecurity which we share with America’s cities. Therefore, we created this initiative to help L.A. residents in need and to offer up a national model. Through a generous grant from the Open Society Foundations, we're expanding the Angeleno Card model into 8 additional cities and 2 states across the country — Atlanta, GA; the State of Connecticut; the State of Rhode Island; Chattanooga, TN; Dayton, OH; Birmingham, AL; Oklahoma City, OK; Salt Lake City, UT; Louisville, KY; and Austin, TX.

Read more about the expansion here. You can contribute directly to people in need by texting LEGEND to 27126 or via our homepage. And check out John Legend announcing this national expansion during his John Legend and Family: A Bigger Love Father’s Day special on ABC!

A New National Playbook For Infrastructure
 
More than 400 elected, government and industry leaders from across the country joined us for the release of “America’s New Playbook for Infrastructure” at our New Partnership for Infrastructure Forum on June 23.

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In case you missed it, you can watch below U.S. Rep. and Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Karen Bass; Dayton, OH Mayor Nan Whaley; Chattanooga, TN Mayor Andy Berke; Waterloo, IA Mayor Quentin Hart; Oklahoma City, OK Mayor David Holt; Phoenix, AZ Mayor Kate Gallego; and our Advisory Council Chair, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, discuss the Playbook and how its recommendations are uniquely relevant for these times.

The New Partnership for Infrastructure, led by the Accelerator, WSP USA, City Possible powered by Mastercard, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the ACEC Research Institute, Meridiam NA, and HNTB, believes infrastructure investment is not only relevant but critical to accelerating our economic recovery and generating the local opportunities and community wealth necessary to break generational cycles of inequality. 

Since our inception, the Accelerator has helped generate local infrastructure funding ($22 billion to date) to create good, middle class jobs to strengthen families and communities. Our New Partnership for Infrastructure initiative is built around the premise that we should aspire to not simply rebuild the flawed economy we had before, but seize this moment to build a stronger, more sustainable economy for America that provides opportunity for all.

For more information on how you can get involved, please contact our Campaigns Director for Transit & Infrastructure, Helen Hwang, at helen@acceleratorforamerica.org.

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