ED Now

IEDC board member and former restaurant owner SeonAh Kendall has worked in public service for more than 10 years, and is currently senior economic manager for the City of Fort Collins, Colorado. Kendall recently talked to ED Now about building transformational relationships, addressing language and cultural barriers, finding your voice, asking for help, focusing on communities, fostering a sense of belonging, and resetting our goals.

Rideshare and food delivery apps have taken a hit in their efforts to continue classifying their workers as independent contractors. With the potential strike down of California Proposition 22 looming, Uber and companies like it may lose their chance to pursue similar measures in other states. On August 20, Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch ruled Prop. 22 unenforceable by the State of California because it is unconstitutional on two grounds. First, the proposition requires a seven-eighths majority in the California legislature to amend, which Roesch claims violates the state legislature’s right to provide workers with workers’ compensation. Second, the proposition effectively prevents drivers from unionizing, ...

A new McKinsey report highlights the racial disparities that affect Black workers and business owners. Wage and professional achievement gaps Forty-three percent of Black workers earn less than $30,000 per year when the median wage for U.S. workers is $42,000 per year. Closing the wage gap could bring 2 million Black Americans into the middle class for the first time and 1 million more Black workers into employment. Eighty-five percent of the wage gap can be found within five sectors: professional services, manufacturing, construction, trade/transportation/utilities, and financial services. More than half of Black workers are employed in healthcare, retail, accomodation, and food services. The report discusses the many barriers to ...

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has launched the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds program of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The funds will provide $350 billion to eligible state, local, territorial, and Tribal governments for economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Congress has allocated $195.3 billion of the funds to states and the District of Columbia, $65.1 billion to counties, $45.6 billion to metropolitan cities, $20 billion to Tribal governments, $4.5 billion to territories, and $19.5 billion to non-entitlement units (NEUs) of local government. Funds may be used to support essential workers, households, small businesses, impacted industries, and the public sector, as well as invest in ...

In a year when retail is already reeling from the pandemic and social justice protests that–in some cases–turned violent, stores across the country have now boarded up their windows and hired extra security in preparation for potential civil unrest following the U.S. presidential election. More than 500 retailers nationwide filled out work orders to board up their windows or take other precautions ahead of the election. Boarding up a business can cost up to $31,000 for department stores with large display windows. The retail industry has been plagued by store closures and bankruptcies. Many malls and brick-and-mortar stores were already struggling to compete against online retail giants, but the pandemic and closing of ...

By Colton Campbell, IEDC intern In mid-August, author and entrepreneur James Altucher posted an essay on LinkedIn highlighting the things that make New York City great, like the culture, food, and business opportunities. He went on to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused irreversible damage to those and other things, and that the city is dead, possibly forever. The increase in remote working makes businesses that continue to struggle from the pandemic even less likely to recover as people move out of big cities to less densely populated areas. A few days later, actor and comedian Jerry Seinfeld penned an op-ed for the New York Times in response to Altucher’s essay, saying that the energy, attitude, and personality of the city ...

More states are investing in their workforce and providing new career pathways as part of economic recovery efforts. Here’s what’s happening in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has announced Futures for Frontliners, the nation’s first program to offer a tuition-free community college education to essential workers who have carried the state since the pandemic began. An estimated 625,000 Michigan residents are eligible, including medical, nursing home, grocery, delivery, retail, manufacturing, and sanitation workers. The $24 million program is funded by the Governor’s Education Emergency Relief Fund, which is part of the CARES Act, and was inspired by the GI Bill. “Futures for ...

In a shift from the makeup of the overall workforce during normal times, women hold a majority of jobs deemed essential during the covid-19 pandemic by the federal government. “From the cashier to the emergency room nurse to the drugstore pharmacist to the home health aide taking the bus to check on her older client, the soldier on the front lines of the current national emergency is most likely a woman,” states a New York Times article. In fact, one in three jobs held by women has been designated as essential, with nonwhite women more likely to be doing essential jobs than anyone else. The shift is a direct result of the high share of jobs in health care held by women, the key industry on the frontlines as the nation ...