 My name is Autumn McDonald and I am the head of New America, California. New America is, I think, an action tank based in Washington DC. And here in California, we focus on issues of economic equity. We're very much focused on what it looks like to lift up community voice and to think about the agency that is necessary for folks to be able to thrive and live their best lives. We host forums like this one, and with an eye on local innovation, as well as disruptive problem solving. We are delighted that you are here today for this conversation, which is going to explore how black communities can achieve employment, business and income resilience during COVID-19, as well as after. Our guests today are Angela Glover Blackwell, who is founder and residence at PolicyLink, and also a member of the governor's task force on job recovery. We are also joined by Heather Foster, who is head of policy engagement and strategic partnerships at Lyft, and also is a former public engagement advisor from the Obama Administration. And we are also joined by Rodney Foxworth, who is CEO of Common Future. Thanks again for joining us, all of you, and thank you to all of you who have tuned into this conversation. Please feel free to take this conversation online by tagging New America, California, or at New America, or any of our speakers on Twitter. Finally, I want to thank the Walter and Elise Haas Fund for helping to make this conversation possible. With that, I will begin with asking Rodney a few questions. Hello, Rodney. Hey, Autumn. How are you? I'm doing pretty well. Thank you. I would love to get us started. I just getting to know you a little bit better. For those who have tuned in before, I like to kind of ask this question of what is the two minute story of you and add to that just what is how does that fit into how you are experiencing this moment? Well, first, I just want to say thank you, Autumn, and the New America team for pulling this conversation together. Glad to be in this conversation with Angela and Heather. I think, principally, my story is so much centered on the fact that I am from Baltimore, which I moved to Oakland two and a half years ago, and, you know, Baltimore, Oakland have a lot of similarities. You know, growing up in Baltimore, I really think that you see sort of what is, it exemplifies sort of the systemic issues that have so much really tarred our history as a country. So we're talking about institutional racism, where you're talking about mass incarceration, where you're talking about failing public infrastructure in a place that is 60% African American. You really see, you really grew up in this atmosphere, recognizing that black life is not considered to be the most important thing, right, the devaluing of black life. And one of the things that I think is really important for me is thinking about my own, you know, history of my family, thinking about how my grandfather was a vet in the Korean War. Purple heart, but did not get his full benefits. That should have been bestowed upon him in the GI bill because he was African American, right, and thinking about all the ripple effects that had, and even my own family life growing up very working class, oftentimes working poor. And then having being fortunate enough to have a family that was working within the economic conditions of Baltimore and having a mother that really pressed upon me, the power of education in as a toddler would read to me, the very powerful mother to son, which I think for anyone who doesn't know that poem is such a powerful poem. And it really, I think it was my mother's attempt to really begin to inculcate within me, the sense that unfortunately as African American male in this country, the stack was either and so I think that really, when I'm thinking about the experience that we're all having right now, the lived experience of so many folks, black folks, people of color, more broadly, are so much more disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. And we recognize that so many of those experiences have just been there for so long, right, isolation, disconnection from resources and things like that. And so I think that experience has actually been something that I think about so much when we talk about the impacts of COVID-19. Well, so it's really great to hear a little bit more about your personal story and how that is fitting into how you're experiencing this moment. It's interesting to hear you mention Langston Hughes, my oldest child was almost named Langston after. I would love to learn a little bit more about common future and what your work looks like, particularly what it looks like for you guys to be in the effort of trying to help wealth aggregate within communities. Yes, and it's really important because we've been around as an organization for almost 20 years. Just last year we rebranded, we relaunched, we used to be the organization known as the Business Alliance for Local Living Economists. And it's really important because there's a great history within the context of Bali, as it was known as. And just recognizing so much of this conversation that we're having today is about inequality, inequity, right, leaning into racial justice, and that wasn't always the history of the organization. And so that's something that really that I want to make sure that it's pronounced. And so I entered into my position two and a half years ago, really with the explicit aim of being able to have us lean much more into racial justice and social justice, because we had done so much work prior to me coming into the organization to really become much more diverse and really center the lived experiences of folks of color in particular. And so, having had that journey, one of the principal things that we've done we've been historically focused on local economies. And now what we've been able to do is actually mobilize resources, financial resources. We have a network of about 100 individuals and organizations across the country and also in Canada that are principally focused on how do we build much more equitable and inclusive economies. So really these are local change makers that have been able to develop really powerful innovations on the ground that we really want to make sure are resourced. And I think these types of innovation and the work that we can invest in are really going to be sort of the promising directions that we will be needing to lean into, as we get more into what's what's happening post COVID. Even if we can even say post COVID word because I think we're going to be living with this requires some time it's a generational event. Indeed, indeed. And when you talk about your roots in terms of formerly known as Bali and that focus on business. I'd love to learn a little bit more about what that looks like, in terms of your understanding of the business community right now. But I do want to later on in our conversation take us to the broader scope that you guys have now. The business and entrepreneurial hat. Could you paint us just a little picture of what you understand to be how black business and black entrepreneurs are experiencing the, you know, the region right now, and in this moment. And the big thing I would love for you to focus in on is the first session, Barbara Lee noted that many in the black community lack. Banking relationships, how that impacts members of the community how that impacts those who have small businesses and entrepreneurs. So I'd love to hear your kind of picture as well as your thoughts on what that looks like. So there's a few things that that we see, and that I think need to be illustrated and I know that have an Angelo bring this as well. But you know what's the adage that when America gets a cold African Americans get pneumonia and obviously that cannot be a more. This person right now we're seeing with COVID-19 we're seeing from the public health aspects of it how it's devastating African American communities. Likewise, similarly with black businesses, right. And so I think one the, the, the articulation that African American businesses do not have those relationships with banks. And our friends that the Association for Enterprise Opportunity really point this out quite a bit, the lack of trust that the African American community has with a lot of banks and major banks, which by the way, are well founded. There's reasons behind that, because we have a long history in which unfortunately the banking industry has been pretty prominent in terms of extracting black well, right, and not just historic, but contemporary. We don't recognize that so there's, there's quite a bit of rational lack of trust. Secondarily, we've seen over the years that the role of blank black banks has actually been decreased. Right. I mean so we're talking about very few black owned banks to begin with right now. So you've got that issue of the lack of trust, but then we also have to look at it within the perspective of the fact that most African American businesses do not have the friends and family wealth or personal wealth, that actually so many other entrepreneurs and small businesses can lean into to even begin to have businesses. And so the way that the traditional banking industry is set up it's really problematic for African Americans and so we see that. And so that is something that we look at the response to COVID-19 with a lot of federal policy that is actually really centering the existing banking industry, we can see why so few of the resources have actually been able to be invested into black businesses. There was a few weeks ago actually that I watched the film, The Banker, which has similar objects and I can't remember the name of the other lead but it was a really compelling story. And it spoke to that issue of banks and the relationship that banks historically have had within the black community. And those are in many ways systemic issues, right? And so I'm curious if you would talk to us a little bit about some of the broader systemic issues. And one thing that came to mind is a conversation that New America hosted in February on the stakeholder capitalism. And I would love to hear your thoughts on kind of a new economy if you will, a new California economy and how we might transform the what might people might call an extractive economy. Yeah, you know, Autumn, I always try to even not even say new economy and some and some in so many contexts because of the fact that when we're talking about some of the things that we see on the ground. I mean, African Americans, indigenous folks have been doing a lot of these practices for some time, right? And so there's a lot of lessons learned historically in terms of what has not been perceived as the traditional economic model. I just want to lift up sort of the historical context and recognize that there's been so much work going on for so long. And so I think when we look at it from the perspective of the systemic, I mean, several things come to mind for me, one, even prior to COVID-19 coming. There was already expectation and estimates that were looking at the decreasing net worth of African American households, right? And so entering in 2020, there was expectation about an 18% drop in African American household wealth. So let's consider that as part of that for a bit. You know, there's been research that indicates that if the economic trajectory pre-COVID again, we would actually be looking at zero net worth for African American households, median household wealth by 2053. And that's prior to COVID. And within the last recession, we already know that African American households, small businesses, and et cetera, were actually still reeling from it. And so those dynamics, the systemic issues that were already faced, the over-prioritization in terms of financialization in our economy, how that impacts African American communities. The, as you pointed out, the extractive nature, the devaluing of not only like black wealth, but black labor that has continued, those are all things that are contributing factors into what we are today. And I always want to make sure that when we talk about systems, folks oftentimes think about the historical, but you do not think about like what's happening today, right? We have modern, we still have redlining today, right? It shows up in our banking industry. It shows up in so many ways. When you look at whether or not you're looking at the venture capital industry and how few resources are invested into African American startup entrepreneurs, it's widespread. And so I think when we look at a nontraditional economy, we need to be thinking about how we opting in for what centers African Americans best interest. And we know that the historic economy has not done that. Well, there's a lot here and there's a lot here for us to talk about as we think about what should come, as you said, next and not after because it's not going to be an after COVID. And so I'm intrigued because I'd love to learn of any resources or tools or specific things that you think might be good for those who are in attendance to share or try to get out to folks. With an eye toward, you know, you just talked a moment ago about, you know, more, a little bit more at the 60,000 foot level, and now coming back down to, you know, what is something that I can do? Something that you want me to share with the people that I know, or us to use New America, California's network or New America's network to try to get resources and tools out. Are there any things that you would highlight? You know, one of the things that I wanted to bring into conversation because I think they're doing great work. It's a new entity, but Eureka, and I'm not sure how many are familiar with Eureka, but it's founded by women of color. And I think it's really principal in terms of supporting as a platform and we can share this resource later. As a platform, they've been working with with Facebook sales force, really to ensure that resources are really guided and toward small businesses. Leveraging the philanthropic capital those institutions have, but it's really more importantly it's a platform that allows one of the things we talk about so much as the financial resources which is critically important, but also the mentorship and actually the relationship building that can be so that help you navigate particularly when we look at the issues around the pay tech protection program, which has so many challenges. But it's a resource for helping folks be able to navigate that process and other processes. So I think that's something in terms of like a tangible what you can do now as a resource available. That's something that folks can do. That's something folks you can guide people to that sort of resource. That's fantastic. I think that it's really important for us to consider businesses entrepreneurs and also those who just in general are furthest from opportunity from stability from security and from the resources and the support that they need. I would like to ask you one more question but it's definitely not the end because we'll bring this into discussion but my last question is related to a call to action. It's really important to us at New America that a conversation never end at being a conversation. I would feel it was a failure if it just ended with that and so I would love for you to take this moment to share with those listening, a call to action, what would make you feel good that you know when it's all said and done, people went out and I want to make sure that people are really considering the fact that black wealth is severely hit decimated. And this is not, you know, this is not how probably properly by COVID-19. So we really need to be thinking about where the next steps, like how do we actually ensure that there's a reset when this happened so again I'm going to always promote that we actually do a significant response to recovery. We actually want to make sure that we don't go back to was already existing in which things were not good for black communities. So I wonder everyone that's listening that's in this conversation to really be thinking about how we think further out, and not just into what is most in front of us, because we really need to be able to build and I know we're going to have this conversation would have to build some different types of systems. And so anyone was thinking who's in policymaking if you're in philanthropy, really be investing into new infrastructures that really are centering the needs and interests of black folks. Thank you. Thank you so much. Heather, I'd love to ask you some questions. Hi there. Hi. Thank you so much for inviting me today. Thank you for joining us. I would love to start with that same grounding and understanding just who you are if we were all out at brunch and we understood the two minute story of you. What is that story and then also how does that fit with how you're experiencing this moment. Well the two minute story of me probably starts with my parents. They immigrated here in the 60s from Jamaica and as two immigrants they experienced America together, but also with this rate, the lens of race, and I grew up in Atlanta spent a significant amount of time in Chicago and DC, and really had the opportunity to work in cities where there was African American leadership. But also for me really seeing, you know, the impacts of what happens to African Americans, black Americans, when we see how our systems operate in this country. I had the great opportunity to work at the White House for several years. And one of the issues that I worked on significantly was African American unemployment. And so in this moment, immediately once I saw the closures, the shelter in place, I thought to myself they're just going to be tremendous economic needs in our communities. And so for me, the way that our team here at Lyft has responded is we immediately started to look at who would be the most vulnerable throughout COVID and how could we support them. I'm intrigued by your experience with the Obama administration where you talked about being kind of in the public engagement space and so I'd love to hear a little bit about with your finger on the pulse of kind of community. What are some things that you are seeing or hearing right now that relates to kind of the economic piece and with that kind of grounding and understanding what are some of the things that are kind of most pressing right now in the black community. So I think there are two big issues. One of course is unemployment. As Angela knows we actually work together on a couple of roundtables at the White House. Right a few. So we thought immediately right in the Great Recession that there was an impact on unemployment. When I started, I think unemployment was 17% and I just saw last week that we're at 16% again. And what's sad is that in 2016 at the end of the Obama administration, unemployment in the black community was single digit again. And so, you know, one of the things just to see it spike so high again in a very short period of time shows how skill training and all of the things that we put in place to make sure the black Americans had access to opportunity is something that I just think will be a big issue as we continue to go through COVID. And then another piece is just education, the link to it. I mean think about all the students who, you know, immediately broadly as a country we thought everyone can just go home and learn, but that's making a lot of assumptions about technology, making a lot of assumptions about access to wifi internet and streaming that quite often some of these communities just do not have. And then of course, you know, in terms of the lack of time that students need one on one time social emotional learning the resources that they get at their schools. The lack of that during this time is just something that I think could potentially compound some of the economic problems we're seeing. Absolutely so multifaceted in terms of all of the tentacles if you will fits into this and also influences what's what's available and what happens with employment as well. I know that your background is in policy and I'm intrigued by what your take might be with your policy policy hat on but has clearly super sized disparity. And so I'm intrigued by what levers you think we might pull on in terms of policy what might we do that has some sort of impact as we try to support black communities black workers and black businesses. I think we're going to have to immediately kind of address the economic problem and the levers throughout our community so often when we think about we hear about these packages that come out through Congress. You know what is the access to people getting the funds that come out what is the education that's given to small business owners to individuals so they understand how to access these funds. So I think that is a tremendous as we we see Congress build out this policy who's communicating how do you access the money that comes from the government. Right. I think we're going to have to also continue to strengthen UI and a lot of the wraparound services that we see whether it's Medicaid just think about all of the people who don't have access to health care right now. That's going to be an issue as we move forward. Are we making sure that the Health and Human Services for both states and also nationally has the strength to reach the demand that will be coming once again when you think about unemployment and unemployment assistance we're hearing across the country how there's been issues accessing a lot of the centers so once again really thinking about are we strengthening the systems that are there to provide resources to people but as we think through these policies we're going to have to think about all of them in a new way given COVID and there are going to be so many different issues I really think that we'll have to deep down and and change things so that people have actual access to them. I know that you've been engaged with community leaders in the past you're engaged with community leaders now and I'm intrigued by realize that I say intrigued a lot. I'm apparently intrigued constantly. I would love to hear what recommendations you might have for community based organizations, leaders of community based organizations and anyone who's listening right now who wants to figure out how they can participate. What I have seen in the past and whether that is from government or working in community organizations myself is that listening immediately to the needs of your community and quite often I think in a crisis it can be overwhelming. Right, it's like how do I tackle the the biggest need, but I do think really assessing you know if it's their needs that are happening in cities that are quite specific. I mentioned having access to, you know, Wi Fi and Internet and on all those resources and the connectivity issues that could be one immediate need that an organization is doing. We're seeing a lot around food insecurity. You know what are we doing to make sure that people have access to food and good food and not just, you know, a package set of food that's delivered but is it fresh, you know, really activating and thinking through how can we reach people and the needs that they have during this time I you know immediately when the crisis it we did some listening sessions with seniors organizations really organizations that just serve the most vulnerable and heard, you know, what is it that you're seeing what is it that you're doing and we started hearing that you know a lot of food banks didn't have the same amount of workers that they typically had so that was a good way for people to volunteer or we heard that parking lots were full and people were running out of gas as they tried to access some of the food banks. And so we started thinking innovatively like can we provide some resources there can we work with organizations. So just think this time is so unique that doing a little bit of listening in the beginning can help community leaders really plan and dial in specifically on how to reach some of their members. That's fantastic. Thank you. We can think about this issue of jobs and income and work. Are there things that you think are unique to California or there are things that we should be thinking about when we think about this state. So I think in general, specifically when it comes to work. We will need a flexible workforce right. What we talked about was just how do you continue to build wealth and and that wealth could be decimated in this time. Once again we're seeing almost in 20 years right a time period where you're seeing these high levels of unemployment. And if we look back to 2008 2009 and really thinking about a lot of meetings that I saw from our economic policy teams. We we found that people needed to have multiple sources of income. And so I think uniquely around this time and if we're going to have true recovery. We're going to need people to have the flexibility to have multiple sources of income. The second thing is our business owners and those were self employed will also need these resources and once again, banks will be looking to lend. We all know that quite often after Americans feel more comfortable going to black banks, you know, all the issues around credit counseling and all of those things that that impact people when they go through periods of unemployment. They're going to be real. And so I really think California can be a standout state in this and really lead on providing that access to credit and providing the flexibility to workers. I think it's really great to hear your perspective on this I think that it's really helpful and hearing your, your personal story hearing your story about being in the Obama administration and now I'd love if you'd be willing to share your perspective with your current work. The work that you do now with that hat. What are the things that you're seeing what are the things that you're doing. I think that lift as I mentioned when COVID-19 hit, we really took the time to look at a lot of our existing partners and see what they were doing and it's all under the umbrella of this work called lift up where we work together, you know, lift our mission is to improve communities through transportation. And we thought how can we continue to lift up our partners during this time. So we did a lot of different ride donations, starting in March, late March, when the shelter in places really came in order, working with a lot of organizations that directly work with communities of color, particularly in the black community we reached out to the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Action Network and black women's agenda which is a group that covers multiple women's organizations. And we said to them, you know, where are your needs and people mentioned that there was a tremendous need for people who are essential workers who still needed to get to work. The transportation credits were very helpful to them. We also worked with the American Federation teachers who had a huge conglomerate of nurses, nurses who were also included in their union that they wanted to be able to get to work. And so we first met the need around just providing that essential transportation. And it's something that we're continuing to look at and continuing to partner. And so we've had some incredible partners in California. I just want to make sure I mentioned all of them, the California Black Chamber also partnered with us to do some incredible work. The San Francisco Council of District Merchants. And so we worked with them to really try to meet this need around essential travel and once again, individuals who needed essential grocery rides needed to get to a doctor. We did that. And then we also experimented and piloted deliveries, which is something we hadn't done in the past, but we looked at how to do safe deliveries and partnered with different elected officials across the state to do these deliveries and get once again, listening to the community and trying doing our best to make sure that we can reach the need through transportation. It could be a time where people feel pessimistic. It could be a time where people think about the racial wealth gap. And think about the racial wealth gap where it was and then think about now and feel like the almost like it's on fire right and so I'm intrigued intrigued by what you're seeing or do you have any thoughts that you feel like are reasons for us to be optimistic as it relates to equitable economy. The one thing that I have found and right we were we're going through such an uncertain time. And it seems like every system that I think we usually put faith in just has been impacted so hard by the pandemic right so everything from you know our healthcare system to our education system has just been tremendously impact. But due to that impact I think we're in a new kind of air zone where even when we're coming together on the phone initially a lot of our partnerships everyone said this is a new day. You know we we even partnered with some unusual partners and in every conversation it always came together. I'm going to take down, you know, our initial maybe differences didn't agree on policy. I think everyone is more in a place now to recognize Wow, what we had put together as a social safety net is not necessarily working. And so now we have an opportunity to really provide more protections to step up to do more to really address our communities, because we know there's strength in our communities and no one wants to see a place where we have such high levels of unemployment. Where we see these impacts on kids and the PTSD that we're starting to see with young people, we don't want this world. And so I think all of us one having to take a step back we've all been in our homes. We're adjusting to life in that way, but also seeing like we have the opportunity now to create a better world and that's what gives me hope and that's what kind of gets me up every day, even though I think wow it's another groundhog day of like, heading from the bedroom to the living room but you know we have this, you know tremendous opportunity to work on a new version of this and I think that's that's the hope that I have. I like that this idea of groundhog day as well as it reminds me of that song where they're kind of like second verse same as the first. It feels like all over and over again, but I also like this idea about being optimistic and whether there's opportunities for us to rebuild and we build it you know there, there is an opportunity for us to think about how if we are if it's been broken down how do we build it up stronger and better. You is one related to what do you feel are the different steps you'd like people listening to take. What is your call to action. So, you know, I think one call to action is one definitely. How can you volunteer. How can you get involved during this time if you're passionate about one of the issues that we talked about. You know, connecting with a community organization or connecting with a company, you know, finding out how you can get involved. So here at lift we have an intake form for organizations that would like to be involved and we'll share that in the materials, because we're continuing to do these donations, not just in California but we've been able to have programs across the countries that we can either connect you to an existing organization and like I said we've had the opportunity through lift up to talk to a lot of different, you know, organizations and there is a need now for volunteer and you can volunteer from your home they're thinking about different ways. And so on the policy side of things I think if there's a particular issue that we mentioned today on the call, you know, get involved and, you know, do what you can to research that issue and figure out how is it going to impact my community and how do I get involved. And so that is those are two things that I think would be a great call to action for everyone on the call today. Fantastic. Thank you so much for sharing your thinking. Angela. Hello there to have you with us today. Thank you so much for joining us. I wanted to start by just kind of acknowledging that you're not new to this economic equity conversation. So I might even say you started it. Since this is not your first rodeo, I would love for you to share with the people who are listening or watching the two minute story of you and particularly your connection to this issue of economic equity and equity in general. Thank you, Autumn. It's really a pleasure to be on here with Bradley and with Heather, especially happy to see Heather because everybody should know Heather got a whole lot of black people into the White House during the Obama years. Every time I got an invitation there she was making sure that people got to see what it meant to be able to get into the House of power. Thank you Heather for that. I actually started off, grew up in a segregated St. Louis, Missouri, grew up during the civil rights movement, segregated housing segregated schools, everything, and St. Louis is still a very segregated place. At the time that I was growing up though, everybody who was black lived in the same community which made for, I often tell people that the 4900 block of Terry, which is where I grew up was completely black. It was the most integrated place I've ever lived in my life because all the black people lived in those neighborhoods so the economic integration was really important. I grew up during the civil rights movement, but I came out of college into the black power movement. And that was very important to me because the black power movement had an economic analysis of suffering in the community. That was so important. When the civil rights movement, which is what my parents very much were framed by the notion was, this is a strong economy there are lots of opportunities and we could just strip away all of this segregation, knock down all these barriers that were based on race, we could make it in this country. When I came out of college into the black power movement there was a different analysis. It was that the system, the economic system that we were operating under required that people be left behind. That it wasn't just because people didn't like the color of your skin. There was economic advantage in keeping people back. And so that has been important to me that I've been through lots of different movements in my life, but I've never forgotten trying to put things in an economic context and there's always an economic analysis to everything that happens. And that has helped me when this was not something that you could bring forward to keep it in the back of my mind. And when it has been something we could put front and center because the cracks in the economic system have been so obvious that people were willing to talk about them always felt like I had a bit of a head start because I've always had an economic analysis. That's how I started off. I'm sorry I'm just a huge fan of yours as you know, but I think that having been in this for a long time and from the very beginning it's interesting to juxtapose that with what you're seeing right now in this moment. A little bit from your vantage point about what, what you're seeing as the same what you're seeing as different what how are you coming to the COVID-19 moment. Very sober, very sad, very concerned. I had already started in my speakers a good year ago routinely talking about why we needed to be thinking about reparations. I had been in this for so long that it just finally gotten to the point where I recognize that until we deal with the original of the nation, both by way of apology, acknowledgement and policy strategies to be able to fix it. We're going to keep coming back to it. And so I had started just putting in my speeches that in a country that was founded based on stolen land, genocide and human bondage, and then had to develop narratives to justify it. And those narratives have become part of the DNA of the nation that we're never going to get where we need to go. And so I started doing that. I think even though I had been brought to it from decades of work, it was still a bit of an intellectual exercise until COVID-19 it. I took all of the intellectual exercise out of it. It was laid bare. The first connection I've ever had in my activist history of understanding what it meant to fight for justice during the time of lynchings. The people who came forward during the time of lynchings, they were speaking in a brave way in a context of death all around. And that's where we are right now. That the death, the suffering is, it underscores the urgency of why everything we've been trying to do should have been done. And it has to stop here. It has to stop here. We go forward with a different set of commitments, a different set of urgency, a different set of anger and a different set of hope. All of that we're going to go forward. And so that's different. That's different. And the other thing that's different, which Heather alluded to, is that a lot more people are willing to come to this conversation now that have ever expressed willingness before. That gives me hope. It also gives me strength. And strength is more important than hope in many ways. You got to have hope to know what to do with the strength, but you need the strength. You need the muscle. And I'm beginning to feel like that strength and muscle is just poise now to go on to the fight for what we need to do to change our system that is not so extractive and exploitive to be able to understand that the response to people who are suffering. We want to stop the suffering. Certainly, we want to create a floor, but we need to have some steps, platforms and ladders and some trampolines that begin to help people stay on the path to go forward. And so I'm feeling that the moment has laid bare what we've always known more people are finally seeing what it is we've been talking about and how destructive it is. And most important, people see this, that if we continue to leave huge portions of the population behind, the nation will not thrive. The fate of nation is dependent on the very people who've been left behind. It's never been more obvious than it is today. It was great to hear you talk about some of the different steps and the different things that we can do as it relates to this larger huge issue a systemic issue a huge kind of foundational piece that is at the source of so many of the problems that we have right now. You wrote a piece New York Times in New York Times recently and op ed that talks about the depression era job losses. And also notes that COVID-19 will not be our last economic shock. So can you tell us a little bit about that piece and particularly some of the recommendations that you make in it. I was so honored to have the opportunity to write this piece with Derek Hamilton, who runs the Caroline Institute at the Ohio State in Columbus, Ohio, and Derek for many years has been pushing the idea of a federal job guarantee. Several years ago policy link really tried to join hip, join forces with him, because we wanted to see it begin to spread and to get a momentum going. And then came this, this extraordinary crisis that we're in, and it is hitting our health and our well being, but it's hitting the economy in a way that it's clear that a lot of people are going to be slow in coming back to the jobs that they had. And that a whole lot of people, people who were homeless, long term unemployed, incarcerated, who haven't been in jobs for a long time will have a very hard time that we need to do what happens in the great depression, which was Roosevelt starting the WPA program, and people like Roosevelt and Dr. King and Coretta Scott King having through the years talked about the need we need guaranteed jobs. People who want to work in this country should be able to work we need a job guarantee, we need a federal job guarantee and what the piece does is it lays out how a federal job guarantee would work. And it's like a radical idea. And I have a podcast called radical imagination and one of the people I interviewed was Derek Hamilton but Derek and I both said, it may sound radical but it's really not it's been done before it's common sense is what you ought to have in an economy that does it would put federal money into making sure everybody could have a job. It would set a floor in terms of the wages and they would be living wages with benefits and childcare if that's what's needed. But it would be up to local communities to be able to identify the jobs that needed to be done. Right now we have a lot of jobs that need to be done. We need to do massive testing. We need to do massive tracking. We need to make sure that every community in this country has broadband. We need to make sure that food insecurity is not an existence. A lot of people who are vulnerable and elder elderly need care workers, all that work needs to be done. It's not being done communities wanted. If we had a federal job guarantee that would be money for all those jobs to happen. And so it's time to start talking about that. It's time. And if we had had it, we wouldn't be suffering like we are right now, but we didn't have it will have it going forward. It's not going to help us now, but it will be good into the future. Everybody who wants to work should be able to work and work with dignity. I have long been a fan of policy link. And I know that you remain there as founder in residence. Policy link has a fantastic series called COVID and race. And I would love if you are willing to just lift up a few of the resources, specific tools or things that you feel like people should be aware of. In addition to thinking it's an amazing series that people should tune into. I love that there are specific opportunities for tools and resources in addition to the wisdom. Policy link does have a lot of things that you can find on the policy link website policy link.org. One of them is a common sense street smart recovery. And what it really does is it lays out how to be able to think about recovery in ways that will make a difference. The first is to center racial equity. All this talk about disaggregating data and being able to see by race by place who's suffering the most, etc. Disaggregating data is useless. If you don't do something with it. We need to understand who's suffering and center racial equity in terms of our health response and our economic response. We need to put people first frontline workers are absolutely essential here essential workers. I'm sure that the people who have helped us in our time of need are honored with pay and dignity as we come out of it need to understand what their needs are. We need to think about building community infrastructure and think about infrastructure broadly. We need physical infrastructure which should include housing. We need human infrastructure which should include care workers and we need community infrastructure so that the community based organizations that are trusted and close to the ground are built up in this time. And we need to think about how to be able to have an equitable economy as we come out of this and begin to re situate ourselves more cooperatives, more worker voice and kind of things that lead to equity coming out. We need to work again, the power of voice and participation. So that's all there but we also have a campaign that we're doing with other organizations called our homes, our health that really talks about the need to stop evictions and to stop rental increases and to cancel rent during this period. We're looking at frontline workers and we have the Bay Area equity Atlas profile or frontline workers in the Bay Area. What are they making where they located what jobs are they in how many are being impacted by this and how do we make sure that we do better coming forward so all of that can be found on the policy link website. And I might just add that the policy COVID and race that you mentioned is a weekly roundup of the things are happening all over the country through podcasts through interviews through news articles they're all pulled together. And there's an essay that introduces each one on a topic of we've talked about testing. We've talked about the, the neat this one right now looks at restaurant workers sorrow Jerry person who wrote the essay. So I encourage people to check that out as well. Thank you so much for sharing that I think that that is critical because comes down to knowing where the resources the information the opportunities to use those tools and ways that are really meaningful for those who are furthest from from opportunity from security from all other things that they need. And particularly in the black and brown communities. That is just a critical issue. I would love to delve into the California element of this. I know that you are a member of the task force that Governor Newsom has pulled together. And I would love to look at this with a California lens, although I want to note that I know that there are many people who are from all over the country, but I'd like to imagine that things that are working well in California could work well here as well, and other places as well rather. And the one other thing I wanted to say before you jump in is this idea of the element of worker voice being just so critical. In America, New America, California have been working really hard to try to lift up that worker voice. And I would recommend that folks tune back into some of the different reporting and things that we'll be doing because we've had the opportunity to speak to workers all over in many different elements and places in the state. And so we'd love to have people hear a little bit more about what workers are saying and feeling. But without further ado, Angela, please tell us what you're seeing as it relates to California. Well, I have been proud of California during this time. In many ways, California, the Bay Area in particular stepped up early to be able to get do shelter in place, but the governor stepped up early across the country in terms of a state doing and putting together this task force on business and job recovery was a far sighted thing to do to have businesses on it, but also I'm on it and equity advocate and Manuel pastore is on it. And Mary Kay Henry is on it with SCI you and the lots of people who are bringing the perspective of workers and equity to it. I also was proud of California working with philanthropy to be able to step up and make resources available for people who were undocumented people undocumented in the state are huge contributors to work and taxes and everything else and how to and so we were able in California, even though the federal government would not do it to get people some protection there. I like the way that, as the governor is thinking about reopening, and we have to that he's thinking about it carefully trying to really work with people to put the protections in place, and to think about how to make sure that we're keeping people safe. But with all of that, we have huge problems, because even though California had a reserve. It's been wiped out by this. And so at the very time when we need to spend money, not just need to spend money to make sure people are safe but we need to spend money for the transformation we're all hoping for. How do we move forward and not go back, we're going to have to spend some money. That's going to be a challenge that we have a lot of children who don't have access to what they need to be able to study at home. It's a huge problem. Our schools were underfunded to begin with, we have these disparities that we're always ringing our hands about what they've showing up now, they're really showing up now that when you look at children who aren't even logging on to be able to study. And while California we're having to make sure that essential workers have the protection that they need, but the notion of being an essential worker is now bleeding over into other aspects because it's other businesses open. People have to make the choice to go to work. Or if you think that you're in danger. Don't don't return to your job. And if that's a voluntary step down that's not fired, you know, and people are not going to be eligible for unemployment. We have to think harder about the vulnerability of workers. Again, this data that we've been so proud that we're disaggregating. If we know that people who are black and brown. If we know that people with heart disease and hypertension and asthma and diabetes are going to be at risk if they get this, this virus. What does it mean for them to return to work. It's different for them. We need to have a system that allows people to be able to be protected this isn't just what companies should do to protect their workers is what they must do to protect their workers and if you're not doing it. Those workers need to have the right to protect themselves. We don't even have a system for that. So California is a wonderful place to be thinking in partnership, but California has not been spared being a part of the nation. Where we have the same legacy that I was talking about where we have the same economic system that doesn't value everybody and it particularly doesn't value the people who all of a sudden we want to applaud and clap and make homemade science. I'm not saying don't do that. Thank you is a good thing, but thank you in terms of job security. Thank you in terms of a decent pay. Thank you in terms of childcare. That's thank you. Hmm. Spot on always. I would love to ask if you have a call to action I feel like so many of the things you say are already enough of themselves a call to action but if there are any other things that you think I have to what is takes care of yourself. Stay safe. Stay safe. You're on your own. You really are on your own. Stay safe. It's your responsibility. Keep yourself safe. Keep your family safe. I you know I'm running around with all this energy in the 10th of March my daughter said to me said mom you may thank you 35 but you're in the zone. You need to go home. Yep me say so I have been home since March 10. You know I've been busy. Stay safe. The next thing is stay strong and speak out. We are not going to get any of the things we've been talking about if we don't step up for ourselves and join hands in transformative solidarity with people who are Latin and Native American and Asian and people who are white and understand that the America they want will not be if we don't make sure it works for the people who are going to be defining the future in the fate of the nation forever being transformative solidarity with others and stay safe. Thank you so much. Thank you all for all of the things you've shared. I'd love to open it up at this point for any of you to either comment on something that someone else said that you think is really interesting that you want to note or to ask a question of one of your fellow panelists. Do you want us to ask a question. I do. I do want you to ask a question of your fellow panelists or to share a comment that you have if there's something that comes to mind. I just wanted to ask Rodney about small businesses because it is just such an important area. I mean small businesses are important in the African American community because we're an entrepreneurial people but because we often get so little respect and so little opportunities for advancement when we go to other people's businesses. It's been a necessity and yet we still suffer so Rodney. So one of the things that I'm thinking about right now in terms of in terms of black businesses is the fact that because it was a question I know that was asked by one of the individuals in the audience around the connection between business ownership and wealth for black folks right. And so one of the things that's so I want to use your word autumn intriguing is that as it relates to mitigating the racial wealth gap business ownership is actually a critical factor, more so than home ownership at this point. And so when we look at the how the economic dynamics of that right now. And in light of COVID, where are the things that we're doing right now to actually get ahead of how black businesses can to Angela and Angela's words transform as well. Right. How do we actually lean into some of those practice that we have had historically in terms of the way we're talking about cooperatives. That's something that's been happening in the black community for a long time. And so I think there's an opportunity and particularly when we look at the places where disproportionately, we don't show up. And as historical reasons for that lack of investment, you know folks are talking about divestment from black communities. I don't look at it that way. I see this hasn't been an investment in this extraction. Right. However, I think there's an opportunity right now. Perfect example of this Angela, I'll give you an example is that we were fortunate to be able to provide some rapid response funding and wake up COVID. And we were able to provide some support to a group in Jackson Mississippi that was actually able to retrofit what they were doing in terms of their maker space to actually create personal protection equipment. Right. Now imagine the fact that again, we're in the, the world's greatest economy, and yet we're not able to create and distribute. PPE. Right. So for context, how do we actually think about and actually just operationalize opportunities for black folks, black businesses to actually get into these micro manufacturing opportunities and actually build things that we're going to need now. And so we'll need moving forward. So I think the opportunity for us to actually be able to connect where we are infrastructure wise in the communities. That's something that we can do and actually connect it to the community wealth building and not just our own individual wealth building. I see some questions that have come in that are particularly around this issue of black owned businesses. So Rodney, I'll ask you a few of these quick follow ups. One is from a person who has a business, a small business, and is wondering what can be done about certain requirements that RFPs have RFQs have, and that she feels eliminate folks out of the gate. Are there any things that you would advise related to that. Thank you for that, Autumn. And I think this is a clear example of what we need to be able to do from a policymaking perspective like right now. So I mentioned earlier my initial comments about how effectively the response. We look at the billions of dollars in terms of the paycheck protection program, how little that is actually going into black businesses. Well, the infrastructure that was perpetuated and was double down upon was the Small Business Administration, and it was based around the guaranteed loan program, the 7-day loan program. So prior to COVID, if you look at the analysis, very few African-American owned businesses were actually receiving these loans. And so of course if you're going to use that apparatus to then deploy resources for PPP, you're going to have the same outcomes. So I think the first round of something like 3% of minority businesses that you would access these kind of, I'm not sure where things are in the second tranche. So one thing that we need to be doing is actually being very considerate about how we actually change the policies that institutions that are already in our hands like SBA to ensure that those types of policies do not exist. Right, how do we ensure that there's actually a prioritization that allows, that considers to Angela's point is so consistent from an equity framework, right? If we know that certain institutions do not have access to the same levels of legal accounting council and these sort of things, we need to make sure that the application process, the RP processes are radically different. So that's something that we actually don't think too much about in terms of where the available resource thing Heather was talking about this earlier, that there are available resources that have been constructed in ways to be inequitable. And so we have to change those policies, we have to change those government actions that allow us to actually leverage the nearly trillion dollars of PPP that did not actually get into the hands of African-American businesses. One more quick follow up for you and then I have some other questions for other panelists, but this I'm actually combining to one is related to this idea of whether black businesses are pulling resources to get better pricing on lines of distribution. And then a kind of connection to that of how someone who's interested in working, getting involved in the work you're doing, how can they get involved. I was going to assume that's on the website but if there's another way let folks know. Yeah, so I think one is that I think for, and I want to make sure this is a historic context that black businesses have been working together for, for a long time. So this is not unique in terms of like the pooling of resources needs sort of things. I do think that when we're looking at we're seeing is that we're so African-American businesses so hard hit that a lot of the long term planning. That's a difficult thing, particularly in light of COVID. And so when you think about the fact that 90% of black owned businesses have fewer than 15 days of reserves. That's really difficult to be able to do long term planning. And so I think right now there's a lot of elements that were seen particularly in the south where, again, prior to COVID, folks are pulling together resources, thinking about how they can architect around supply chains and these sort of things and ensuring that there's an ecosystem of small businesses that are actually delivering or turn, you know, return locally. In terms of like how one can get to get involved in common future, please do visit our website, commonfuture.co, you'll be able to see it with the things that we're doing as opportunity for you to connect with us. Thank you. I have a question for Angela, which comes from Elena Beverly of University of Chicago. Hello, Elena. Angela Elena would like to know, since you talked about this narrative that was shaped to justify oppression. Is there a narrative to ensure that everyone sees that that everyone sees that will benefit from universal policies like federal job guarantees what is that narrative of life. Yeah, I miss you. It's been a while. I think the narrative that we need going forward is one that really ties our destinies together. That's what we have been missing. And we have that narrative right now it is in front of us. And that is that we're becoming a world nation, which is the best thing that you can be in a global economy. The nation is connected to the globe through kinship through custom through language, and the people in this country who represent the future are unfortunately the very people who have been left behind. This equity agenda, just unfair inclusion into a society in which all can participate prosper and reach their full potential has become the most important agenda for the nation. And equity is the superior growth model, you get equity right that we grow in ways of which we respect the environment in which everybody's worth is valued in which everybody's able to participate like having a federal job guarantee. So the narrative that our fates are intertwined that the thing that we have not done in this nation, which has been so defined by race and this hierarchy of human value, we have to jettison that is Gail Christopher says we have to jettison that hierarchy value value all and develop our democracy and our economic system in a way that does that. It's a good narrative. We just need to grab hold to it and repeat it again and again and again, and it begins to change everything. I have a question related to that Angela, which is about the jobs, a federal jobs guarantee. This individual would like to know if you could talk about how a federal jobs guarantee addresses deep seed racism, specifically anti blackness and sexism. And how do we ensure that a federal jobs guarantee changes systems of questions and systems of oppression instead of upholding them. Eric Hamilton and I want you to look him up Google him read our article in the New York Times he always tells me that a federal job guarantee is not a silver bullet it won't solve every problem. It solves a big problem. And the big problem is that because of racism, because of the different ways that people are valued in the workplace. There are too many people who are left out of work or working in jobs that do not provide the wages and the benefits that they need. You create a state every single individual who wants to work can work and can get a job at decent pay with benefits. Then you have solved a big part of the impact of racism, which is to lock people out a big part of the discrimination against people with disabilities, a big part of what women suffer with women of color, just creating this base that is not a keep you above 50% of poverty, it is allowed you to have a living wage and to move forward. Now, the next thing is what it does is it actually puts pressure on the private sector. I was in a meeting with someone was saying, Well, if you have public jobs, and they're paying 12 1314 $15 an hour. What does that do to the private sector in terms of how are they going to attract employees when they're paying less. And Jared Bernstein from the center on budget and policy priorities who was in the audience said, Ah, that is a feature not a flaw. And I thought that was brilliant. A feature of the federal job guarantee is that it does create a base that causes the private sector to have to compete at that level. Thank you for that. This question is for any of you and perhaps, Heather, you would love to jump in, which is this question of which organizations or leaders or groups are effectively speaking out about reimagining the future and an equitable recovery. I think there are a lot of organizations who are working on this. I think, if we're looking specifically at African Americans, I encourage everybody to look at what the joint center is doing. They're based at DC their think tank they've been doing panels they've been calling Congress. Definitely looking at the US black chamber and national African American Chamber, they're doing a lot around growth. Definitely take a look at color of change. Doing a lot around how do we make sure when this new world opens things are equitable and accessible for African Americans. And definitely look at the NAACP they have been doing a lot of great work from coast to coast, and particularly looking at, you know, Detroit, which is an impact to the area for recovery, looking at New Orleans. Let's not forget that New Orleans just recovered in some ways from Katrina. So just seeing large festivals like essence fest not happening this year, and the tremendous amount of value that brings to the local community. These organizations are diving in to help. So I really encourage you all to take a look at these organizations leadership conference for civil and human rights also in DC doing a lot around voting, which is going to be important in the election as well. And there's always a local directory of groups that quite often I think people do not look at your local organizations are doing great work. And this is the time they need your support now. There's a follow on to that which is related to how we can leverage the rescue and recovery legislation specifically to focus on equitable distribution of resources and money and political power and things like that. I don't know if you'd like to jump in Heather and then if anybody else has ideas as well. I'm putting on my former government job, I can only say that now is the time to definitely, you know, reach out to your members reach out to the people that represent you, and be really clear about what is equitable when we're looking at these resources, the way that these bills come out the way that things are communicated. Now is the time to really say you know what, I'm a small business owner. This is how I know I'm going to need to access this information. This is, this is a key thing that happens. That when this policy is implemented. I've realized I don't get this information, or this is not a possible thing to happen at the bank. There's the forms aren't created this way, and where we can access these funds. There are small things that happen all the time when policy is created that a lot of times policies just created nationally, then when it gets to your state. It's also redone again. So it's a key time to make sure that you know what your local elected officials are doing, how they're advocating for the policies what you want to see in terms of particular changes. And now that we're home we all have time to either write those letters, make those calls those are all things that we can do. And part of the answer is the answer that Heather gave a moment ago when she listed that wonderful set of organizations. I hope that list goes up on your website if it wasn't up while she was speaking. Fabulous groups they need your money. They need your money and they need your support those organizations are strong they help to bring voice forward and we all need to be registered to vote and vote and understand what we're voting for and make sure that everybody who we touch and influence understands how important it is to vote. Now I want to quickly just lift up a few organizations on network that are doing powerful work and really reimagining so thinking about the runway project, which is looking at how you create real resources that really mitigate the racial wealth gap as it impacts my business creation. I think about higher purpose co and Clarksdale Mississippi and then also cooperation Jackson which I mentioned actually was doing the work around PPE. And then the last thing I will say in terms of this is that we have to radically change the institutions that we have the government as well right because the default is that big banks Wall Street are going to be able to solve these problems. And actually to Angela's point it's all about how we invest in community. And I wanted to point out one something that was said in the chat. Small business development entrepreneurship in and of itself will not close the racial wealth gap. We need all these policies in place we need these transformative action. Small business entrepreneurship is a piece of it, but it's not the full thing and so I just want to make sure we're encouraging us to like thinking much more broadly about the, the economic policies that would be positioning right now. Thank you all so much. I am going to segue to asking kind of for the final word and it can be more than a word, because we are at 344 and although unique and maybe a little bit odd. I thought that an hour and 15 minute was a perfect amount of time just enough for questions, not too much as one hour and a half might have been so I said all that to give you time to think of your last word, your last message. Why don't I start with you, I need whatever you'd like to share with folks before we sign off. I'm just going to reiterate we need to restructure radically in this moment, because if we can't be, if we can't be bold right now. And this moment when black wealth is being decimated, then when are we going to do it and so I would just encourage everyone that really strengthen their imagination, and actually just basically follow whatever Angela says that we need to do is probably the way forward. Yeah, I would echo Rodney in terms of following what Angela is recommending because she's been a leader on this for years, but also for people to keep hope. I think these are heavy times. You know, we wake up every day to news that is not usually pleasant. We are facing our own challenges, whether it's personally with family members. You know, we've seen the rates of COVID in the black communities. Do you take some time to take care of yourself. That is something that I've recommended to a lot of people and continue to keep that hope because we have we have an opportunity. So let's make sure we're healthy so that we can get involved. And I would just add that we were in a battle and a fight before this happened. We need all of that energy plus this is not the time to lose heart, just because we can't take to the streets the main way we might want to, we can all be together. The way that we're using social media using zoom, we can be together, we can support each other. This is the time for solidarity solidarity solidarity. I want to thank all of you. That was fantastic. Thank you for being part of this conversation and my only ask to everyone would just be, let it not be just a conversation. It can't be right. We can't go back. We can't go back and therefore, we must do these things we must act on these things and so I would say follow what Angela said what he said, Heather said, thank you so much for joining us.