In 2021, amid the economic disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. saw a burst of growth in Black business. That year, the number of Black-owned employer businesses (businesses with more than one employee) increased by 14.3%—the largest percentage jump since 2017. But even with this growth, the share of employer businesses owned by Black Americans (2.7%) remained low relative to their share of U.S. population (14.4%). In this new interactive report, Andre M. Perry, Manann Donoghoe, and Hannah Stephens explore these gaps both nationally and within metro areas, while also highlighting potential avenues to help Black-owned businesses reach parity with their population share.
Spurred in part by recent significant federal legislation, since 2021 the United States has experienced a surge of private investment in “strategic sectors,” defined as clean energy, semiconductors and electronics, biomanufacturing, and other advanced industries. A new Brookings Metro analysis in collaboration with MIT’s Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research finds that economically distressed counties are receiving a proportionally large share of that investment, consistent with legislative goals and in contrast to previous investment trends that bypassed these places. The authors explain that the path from private investment into broadly shared and inclusive economic opportunity will require intentional strategies to connect local workers and businesses to these new investments.
Inspired by a new book by Harvard sociologist Michèle Lamont (“Seeing Others: How Recognition Works—and How It Can Heal a Divided World”), this event will explore how a diverse and often divided society chooses who is seen and valued. Lamont will join Brookings Metro Senior Fellow Xavier de Souza Briggs, the Omidyar Network’s David Hsu, and the Urban League of Louisiana’s Judy Reese Morse for a discussion about the concept of recognition and its impact on our politics, economy, and culture, as well as innovative approaches to bridge the divides in places with long legacies of exclusion.
The end of the Affordable Connectivity Program is almost here, threatening to widen the digital divide. In just a few months, the Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP)—which provides a $30 per month subsidy for broadband to about 23 million homes—will run out of funding. And despite bipartisan support and a clear economic case for the program’s benefits, congressional efforts to continue the ACP face an uphill battle. Blair Levin outlines the argument for supporting the ACP—including lowering government costs and increasing employment and literacy—and details how to put the program on a more sustainable financial and political footing.
The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington,DC, 20036
