Webinar Series in Partnership with Brookings
In partnership with Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program, E Pluribus Unum hosted a series of curated conversations for local elected leaders in the summer of 2020 to explore the COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on workers, small businesses, cities, and towns as well as how leaders need to respond to the resulting economic fallout.
WEBINAR 1
The Future of Main Street
Addressing the vulnerability of small, women and black-owned businesses with a recovery lens
The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated many small, women and Black-owned businesses that serve as the lifeblood and an essential source of employment for cities and towns all over the country. As revenues have plunged, the public and private sectors have taken steps to support small businesses and their employees, but more must be done to ensure these vital businesses don’t close their doors permanently. Local leaders have an important role to play in charting pathways to stabilization and recovery so that small, women and Black-owned businesses can flourish in a post-COVID-19 world.
WEBINAR 2
Catalyzing Workforce Innovation
Strategies for supporting the tidal wave of job seekers
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to deeply impact our cities and towns, leaders need to identify ways to respond to the resulting economic fallout and its effect on workers. Economists predict that only 58% of laid-off workers are likely to return to the job they held pre-COVID.
Both immediate-term mitigation efforts and longer-term recovery efforts are required to support people as they transition to quality jobs that will support them and their families. Local officials have an important role to play in developing equitable solutions for job seekers and can learn from innovative workforce programs that have already adapted existing services and infrastructure to our new environment.