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Original article written by Sophia Campbell, Jimena Ruiz Castro, and David Wessel for Brookings Institute.  The shift of work and school online highlighted the lack of access to high-speed broadband internet service in some parts of the U.S. and intensified political pressure on the government to make it more widely available.  The bipartisan infrastructure bill that passedRead more

This post is part of a five-part series called Relief to Recovery, an analysis done by Joseph Parilla and Sifan Liu of Brookings Institute.  What to know As the nation recovers from the pandemic, the strategic lens for small business support will shift from averting destruction to making strategic investments in entrepreneurship ecosystems and smallRead more

This post is part of a five-part series called Relief to Recovery, an analysis done by Joseph Parilla and Sifan Liu of Brookings Institute.  What to Know In normal times, small businesses are constantly being created and destroyed. This churn makes entrepreneurship a risky journey for individual business owner, but can be a good thingRead more

This post is part of a five-part series called Relief to Recovery, an analysis done by Joseph Parilla and Sifan Liu of Brookings Institute.  “Small business” is an unhelpfully broad segment. This brief focuses on small businesses with fewer than 100 employees, with the acknowledgement that smaller businesses have experienced particular challenges during the economicRead more

This post is part of a five-part series called Relief to Recovery, an analysis done by Joseph Parilla and Sifan Liu of Brookings Institute.  With vaccine rates increasing and the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) delivering flexible resources to localities and states, small business support remains a key priority for local leaders as theyRead more

Original article written by Bhaskar Chakravorti for Harvard Business Review.  Finally, America appears to be taking bold action on fixing its fraying infrastructure. President Biden’s proposed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act–despite being negotiated down in a bipartisan deal–is a significant step in addressing one of the country’s most pressing, deeply rooted, and often overlooked problems:Read more

On Thursday, August 12, the U.S. Census Bureau released its latest round of information from the 2020 Census. The date shows changes to the demographic makeup of the country over the past decade, which states will now use to decide congressional redistricting procedures. The results are a snapshot of everyone living in the U.S. onRead more

Published on July 14, 2021 by Kristi Eaton for Smartcities Dive. Lucinda’s, a retail shop in downtown Wichita, Kansas, closed its doors for three months during the height of the pandemic last year. Closing a business that depends on foot traffic can be devastating for a business, said the store’s owner, Valerie Reimers. “It wasRead more

Governments can appropriate American Rescue Plan dollars to help the travel and hospitality industries rebound from economic devastation brought by the pandemic.  Article written by Andrea Noble, June 16, 2021; for Route Fifty.  States are restarting their economic engines this summer and several are planning to use federal stimulus dollars to help bring back tourists.Read more

The American Rescue Plan is delivering an unprecedented $350 billion in direct aid to state and local governments across the country and the sheer size of their share has many leaders overwhelmed. Acadia Parish has received $12.1 million in funding, and the seven municipalities in the parish have between them another $10.7 million, the amounts variedRead more