Episode #3: Climate Change + COVID-19 + Communities of Color: Vol. 3 Black Entrepreneurship + Restaurants

The third episode under the theme “Climate Change + COVID-19 + Communities of Color” Lezli is joined by Andre M. Perry, a Metropolitan Policy Fellow at the Brookings Institution and two business owners/restaurateurs; James Beard Award winning chef; Nina Compton and award-winning marketer turned restaurant owner Karl Franz Williams. Karl and Nina share their battles with financial hardship during the global crisis.. Perry is the author of the recently published book, Know Your Price Valuing Black Lives and Property in America’s Black Cities; Nina, is owner of Compère Lapin and Bywater American Bistro in New Orleans; and Karl Franz Williams is owner of 67 Orange Street, in Harlem as well as the Anchor Spa in New Haven, Connecticut. The conversation between these four tackles how the legacy of systemic racism (eg red lining, discriminatory lending practices) has made Black businesses more susceptible to failure in comparison to their White counterparts both prior to the crisis and amidst the crisis. Lezli and her guests discuss data about the uneven distribution of funding from government recovery efforts (eg CARES Act) and why the legacy of discriminatory lending practices contributes to the uneven distribution of recovery dollars. Andre shares solutions and they wrestle with the troubling question of what America’s cultural landscape may look like if Black owned restaurants do not prevail.

Relevant and Recommended Reads

Harlem Bar Navigates COVID-19 Changing Rules – NPR News
MBDA and CARES Act Funding
Without more help, black-owned businesses might not survive the pandemic by Eugene Cornelius Jr. for CNN Business Perspectives

Podcast Team = Lezli Levene Harvell (Host & Executive Producer) / Rez Nemorin (Producer) / Justin Bates (Sound Engineer)