Leveraging the power of economic dynamism in America’s communities of color

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly destabilized the US small business ecosystem and accelerated the collapse of an estimated 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses. While Congress and the federal government grapple with the immediacy of stabilizing small businesses and distributing the vaccine, the pandemic’s threat to economic dynamism in local communities has drawn little attention. New companies drive technological innovation, create jobs of the future, and are critical contributors to a recovery.

Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and other vibrant majority-minority cities have excelled in attracting young tech companies with job creation potential that play an outsized role in driving growth. These cities provide inspirational lessons on inclusive tech-centered growth strategies. Stimulating a broad-based economic recovery depends on policymakers’ ability to stabilize small businesses and their capacity to reignite America’s entrepreneurial spark.

On February 16, the Race, Prosperity, and Inclusion Initiative at Brookings hosted a webinar on the economic dynamism in communities of color across the country. Speakers discussed dynamism-driven job creation in communities of color, how to prepare underrepresented workers for emerging job opportunities, and inclusive policies that strike a balance between entrepreneurial dynamism and recovery.

Viewers submitted questions for speakers by emailing [email protected] or by tweeting at @BrookingsGov.