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  • Teton County Library feeling fine after eliminating late fees

    May 26, 2021 |

    Jackson Hole News & Guide |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Jackson, Wyoming

    Teton County in Wyoming is implementing a new "fine free" system at community libraries, and anecdotal results show it's been successful. Eliminating fines is a way for the library to address the root cause of people not accessing the resources they often need the most due to accrued fines. Instead, the library will simply freeze patrons' accounts if they have an overdue book, and have longer grace period for returns.

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  • In Nashville, Using Loan Guarantees to Fund Affordable Housing Preservation

    May 25, 2021 |

    Next City |

    Text |

    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Nashville, Tennessee

    Urban Housing Solutions, a Nashville nonprofit housing developer, made a $19.2 million investment to preserve 165 apartments for people earning in the mid-30s. In a tight and expensive housing market where aggressive investors often outflank nonprofits seeking to provide lower-cost housing, UHS financed the purchase with a bank loan that will earn the lender state tax credits and that was secured by four philanthropic foundations' funds as collateral. The transaction was a first in Nashville for the use of community investment tools to preserve lower-cost housing.

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  • This Federal Program to Aid Restaurants and Street Vendors Is Working

    May 25, 2021 |

    Next City |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    In just its first few weeks of existence, the U.S. Small Business Administration's Restaurant Revitalization Fund approved more than $6 billion in aid to 38,000 restaurants and other food vendors suffering economically from pandemic shutdowns. The aid program's rollout was more effective than the Paycheck Protection Program in 2020, in that it successfully targeted businesses owned by women, veterans, and "socially or economically disadvantaged people." It was helped in outreach to businesses by organizations such as Mission Economic Development Agency and New York's Street Vendor Project.

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  • These co-op restaurants didn't need to open indoor dining to survive the pandemic

    May 20, 2021 |

    The Real News Network |

    Video |

    5-15 Minutes

    Response Location: United States, Baltimore, Maryland

    Two Baltimore restaurants, Red Emma's and Joe Squared, show how running or starting as worker-owned cooperatives gave them pandemic-survival skills in a business climate that killed many other small businesses. By tapping into larger networks providing financing on favorable terms and other expertise, these co-ops used their workers' ingenuity to offer services that didn't depend on sit-down dining. Like many co-ops, they were able to survive the pandemic and preserve jobs where so many traditionally run businesses were not.

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  • San Francisco's Filipino Cultural District Keeping Hope Alive After a Tough Year

    May 18, 2021 |

    Next City |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, San Francisco, California

    “UNDSCVRD SF," funded by the SOMA Community Stabilization Fund and produced by the nonprofit Kultivate Labs, is a night market held once a month from July to November that features a range of Filipino vendors. There were over 35,000 attendees in 2019 and it generated $300,000 in sales. It also serves as a testing ground to select businesses for Kultivate Labs’ SEED Accelerator Program and grantees for the SOMA Fund. The former provides bootcamps and one-on-one support for Filipino-owned businesses that are located in, or would like to be located in, a permanent space within the SOMA cultural district.

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  • This Real Estate Co-Op is Looking for Investors Who Want to Put Community First

    April 13, 2021 |

    Next City |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Oakland, California

    The 2012 federal JOBS Act (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) took some time to gain traction, but in recent years it has democratized the financing of worker-owned co-ops and other community-based entities that ordinarily would be frozen out of capital markets. By making possible what is called a direct public offering, the law has made it easier to finance businesses that promise greater social benefits than just profit maximization, by opening investment opportunities to a more diverse and egalitarian mix of investors.

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  • A collaboration of local orgs is working to boost minority-owned businesses in Kensington

    April 05, 2021 |

    The Philadelphia Citizen |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    Four local organizations have teamed up to provide $15 million in loans for the Latinx community in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. The affordable loans have gone to affordable housing, small businesses, residential mortgages, and development projects.

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  • Susu as a Vehicle to Advance Economic Mobility

    March 19, 2021 |

    FunTimes Magazine |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States

    A traditional African method of mutual aid, Susu, is helping members of the African Diaspora access capital for businesses, education, housing, and more. The informal loan network enables people to contribute periodically to a group fund with each contributor taking turns receiving the collected money. The informal loan club is a centuries-old African tradition that serves as a security net and can also provide economic mobility.

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  • Fighting Gentrification

    March 19, 2021 |

    QNotes Carolinas |

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    800-1500 Words

    Response Location: United States, Houston, Texas

    When gentrification made housing unaffordable for many people in Houston's historically Black Third Ward neighborhood, local activists sought remedies beyond standard federal tax incentives for affordable housing. A city-sponsored Community Land Trust developed a plan for more affordable housing. At the same time, a development catering to low-income, older LGBTQ residents, adjacent to the Third Ward, got developed on donated land. Charlotte has many similar challenges, making Houston a model for what is possible.

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  • Seattle Bets on Equitable Development

    February 17, 2021 |

    Yes! Magazine |

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    1500-3000 Words

    Response Location: United States, Seattle, Washington

    An Equitable Development Initiative was launched as a result of a racial equity analysis that gauged the effect that Seattle’s economic growth would have on communities of color. Funding for the initiative has gone toward capital for these communities to purchase real estate and develop projects that build up affordable housing, child care, food security, and other issues that would best serve longtime residents and prevent gentrification.

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