Cleveland Can’t Afford to Wait
Today, marks one year since Governor Mike DeWine issued stay-at-home orders to help combat the spread of COVID-19.
In the 365 days since our way of life came to a sudden halt, the pandemic has dealt Cleveland a serious blow: 22% of small businesses have closed, over 10,000 Clevelanders have lost their jobs or had their hours reduced, and this burden has fallen disproportionately on people of color and minority-owned businesses.
On top of these challenges are cutbacks in government revenues, which have placed increased pressure on public transit, social service supports and basic city services.
Earlier this month, President Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law, which provides $360 billion in direct financial relief for states and local governments over the next two years.
According to initial estimates, Cleveland is expected to receive $541 million, the 8th largest allocation to a major U.S. city. While we don’t yet know how this money can be spent, initial guidance suggests cities will have a significant amount of flexibility to use funding for small business relief, support for low-income residents, schools, entrepreneurship, municipal broadband, and repairs to infrastructure.
To maximize the potential of these dollars, it’s time to set up an Office of Economic Recovery to organize and coordinate the delivery of funding. We can meet the full potential of these opportunities and use it as a catalyst to not only recover, but to strengthen our economy. But this is well beyond the reach of what City Hall can do alone.
This must involve participatory budgeting and a public-private partnership guided by small businesses, financial institutions, neighborhood leaders, philanthropic organizations and economic development partners that play a large role in our community already.
Residents know what they need and must have a voice in how we use this investment to turn around our city and ensure an equitable recovery. If we don’t engage and listen, we risk making policies on the wrong assumptions.
The goals of the office should be two-fold: 1) deliver immediate relief and
2) build strategically for future growth in ways that are racially inclusive and complementary to other key investments. More specifically, this office should leverage existing and new capital plans that can qualify for federal stimulus programs. These plans must be fair, equitable and align with local priorities.
Secondly, the office must build upon existing support programs to help small businesses reopen safely by offering both capital and technical assistance and should support retraining and job placement programs to get residents back to work.
The Office could also play a key role in working with state, regional and local economic development partners to identify and multiply reshoring opportunities through effective marketing, ready-to-go sites and incentives. We must also continue to mobilize resources to support innovation and business start-ups in new markets created by the pandemic, including PPE and population health.
This stimulus represents the largest positive shock to Cleveland’s economy in more than a half-century and creates an historic opportunity for us to make thoughtful investments in infrastructure, affordable housing, job training programs, direct relief grants to small businesses and more.
Failure to develop a clear set of investment priorities coupled with a lack of coordination on how we deliver these dollars could result in another missed opportunity for our city and region.
This relief and recovery package has the potential to be a game-changer for Cleveland. We can go from poverty to prosperity and create access to opportunities if we have a clear plan and vision for how to get there. Let’s take these steps now. Cleveland can’t afford to wait. Our future depends on it.
