Shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic devastated the economy and hit Black and Latino communities especially hard. Business owners and workers made their living in industries that saw customers vanish such as health care, hospitality and transportation.
A Stanford University study found that 32% of Latino-owned businesses and 41% of Black-owned businesses across the country vanished between February and April 2020. That’s compared to 17% of the white-owned businesses. And unemployment figures in North Carolina show Black residents filed the largest percentage of jobless claims while making up just 22% of the population. Latino residents made up 6% of claims while making up 9.8% of the population.
To find out how Black and Latino business owners and workers are doing eight months into the pandemic, WFAE reporters Gracyn Doctor and Maria Ramirez Uribe are talking with Shanté Williams, chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber of Commerce and Daniel Valdez, director of North Carolina and Mid-South Operations for the Hispanic Federation.
Date and Time: Nov. 20 at 12 p.m. ET
Facebook Live: https://www.facebook.com/WFAE
About Gracyn Doctor:
Gracyn Doctor is a graduate of Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte and Syracuse University, where she trained to become an arts journalist, focusing specifically on race, culture and feminism. Gracyn also hosted and edited a podcast with ESPN’s Maria Taylor, and developed the Talkin’ Black podcast.
Twitter: @GracynDoctor
About Maria Ramirez Uribe
Maria Ramirez Uribe is a reporter at WFAE. She is a graduate of Elon University where she was a reporter and editor for the Elon News Network and covered the Iowa caucus. Maria was an intern at CNN on the international desk.
Twitter: @MariaRamirezU
About Dr. Shanté Williams
Shante Williams is chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Black Chamber of Commerce and member of WFAE’s Community Advisory Board. She is currently the CEO of Black Pearl Global Investments, a $25M venture capital fund. She is a distinguished Venture Capitalist, business owner, Inventor, Intellectual Property Strategist, and Private Investor.
Twitter: @doctor_shante
Website: https://www.cltblkchamber.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-shante-williams-mba-b46a6515/
About Daniel Valdez
Daniel Valdez is director of North Carolina and Mid-South Operations for the Hispanic Federation. He has more than 10 years in nonprofit management working with organizations like Welcoming America, Crisis Assistance Ministry, the Latin American Coalition and Carolinas CARE Partnership.
Twitter: @dandamex
Website: https://hispanicfederation.org/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dvaldez86/
More information about our Facebook Live in Spanish here.