Ron Busby: (00:00)
Thank you, everyone, for joining us this afternoon. I am truly honored to be with you as we have the opportunity to celebrate Black history, but also to talk about the current conditions of Black people, as well as to talk about how we engage and go forward for the future of this country, as it relates to Black America. I, again, am the president of the United States Black Chamber. We represent 146 Black chambers located throughout 42 states, including Canada and six countries in Africa, with a membership base of over 380,000 Black owned businesses, but we are the voice of over 2.6 million Black owned businesses.
(01:20)
The U.S. Black Chamber is founded on our five key pillars, and the first one is advocacy. And this afternoon we’re demonstrating our relationships, as well as the strength that we have that differentiates us from any other Black civil rights or any other chamber of commerce. This is what the U.S. Black Chamber is about. And you’ll hear it from both the vice president, as well as the secretary of treasury, to bring comments as well as concerns as it relates to our issues, specifically Black owned businesses. And one of those primary concerns is access to capital, and we all know it is a tremendous burden for Black business owners, as well as Black homeowners and communities to get affordable and accessible capital.
(02:06)
Our third one is contracting, and we are going to discuss with this administration about opportunities to do business with the federal government, as well as use their bully pulpit to make sure that corporate America is doing its role, as well. And lastly, as a Black collective, you have all heard the story about we have a trillion dollars of spending power. Our responsibility is to keep that trillions of dollars in our community to ensure that we have sustainability, not just through these difficult times, but to thrive after we get out.
(02:41)
The next one is really about entrepreneurial training, and as chamber leaders and business owners across the country, I was really surprised when we heard that 68% of Black businesses failed during the COVID period of time because they did not look for expert advice. We, as chamber leaders and business leaders across the country, have those relationships, have the acumen and skill, and we will make sure that we develop those businesses across the country.
(03:09)
And then last is chamber development, and I’m happy to have over 140 chambers join us this afternoon to talk about the New American Recovery Plan. It is really the details, and always the details, as well as the implementation of programs like this. It is our opportunity today to talk about how this can be succinct, as well as intentional for Black owned businesses, Black communities, and most importantly, Black families. This piece of legislation has been rolled out. The great thing about Black chambers is that we are located in both Republican as well as Democratic states, but we carry the voice of our constituents, our members, and the voters in those communities. And so I am happy to have you here to discuss the New American Recovery Plan, and I’m also happy to have four of my chamber leaders here to provide great questions and give insight to some of the concerns that they see locally, as well as around the country.
(04:14)
So without further ado, I’d like to first introduce the new secretary of treasury, the first female, as well as our good friend, Dr. Secretary Janet Yellen. Thank you.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (04:42) Thank you.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (04:42)You can speak into that camera.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (04:42)
Thank you, Ron, and thank you all for joining us. I know the members of the Black Chambers of Commerce have been very engaged in helping us respond to this economic crisis, and I’m looking forward to our conversation. I’ve been an economist for a long time, and one of the areas where I focused my attention is on racial disparities in economic outcomes. It was probably because I started studying economics during the civil rights movement. I took my first course around 1963. I was a freshman in college. And if you looked at the economic data back then, the average Black family possessed roughly 15% of the wealth of the average white family. That’s more than a six to one difference, and it’s stark, but perhaps it isn’t surprising. Jim Crow Laws were still in effect in many places.
(05:45)
What is surprising, though, is that it is now more than half a century later, and that six to one number has barely budged. Today, African-Americans remain unemployed at roughly twice the rate of white Americans. And that number hasn’t really changed in 50 years, either. It’s as close to a constant as you come in economic data. Indeed, if you somehow transported my freshman economics professor to 2021, and you only showed him the employment and wealth numbers, he would have had a hard time guessing that the country has passed the Civil Rights Act or that we elected our first Black president or our first Black vice president.
(06:37)
Instead, he might actually notice signs that the country had headed in the opposite direction, especially after 2008. During the last recession, the highest white unemployment rate ever reached was 9.2%, but Black unemployment was trapped above 10% for five years, and it peaked earlier, reaching almost 17%, and recovered slower than unemployment for almost any other group. And that is what economic crises do. They hit people of color harder and longer. They push our country away from our values, toward more inequality.
(07:23)
And I’m worried that the current crisis will do this again. In fact, I know it will, unless we act. During the early days of the pandemic, African-Americans with the first to lose their small businesses. They were the first to lose their jobs. And we’ve seen early data that suggests Black workers will be the last rehired when the economy opens back up. That’s why the American Rescue Plan is badly needed, to make sure that this pandemic isn’t another generational setback for racial equality, and better yet, to finally start building an economy that works for everyone.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (08:08)
I know this is a goal the vice president cares deeply about, too. In fact, it was the first thing she asked me to work on with her. When she swore me in as secretary, we spoke, and she asked me about providing more capital to community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions. These CDFIs and MDIs are so important, because they serve communities that the wider financial system traditionally hasn’t served well, especially communities of color. They give loans to people to buy homes and start businesses. Madam Vice President, I am very glad to be working with you on these issues and to be here with you today. And let me turn things over to you.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (08:58)
Thank you, Secretary Yellen, and greetings to everyone. I’m looking on this big screen at all of you. I see so many friends, and I see a screen full of national leaders. And so I want to thank you all for the time that you are giving to this conversation. Ron Busby, I thank you for bringing us together, my Oakland brother, but I just want to thank everyone. And let me just say, the secretary mentioned the conversation that she and I had when I swore her in, but we had a conversation before that, Madam Secretary, and it was during the time, it was before she was actually nominated and the process was in place. And we had a conversation about how she was thinking of the job.
(09:42)
And she’s the one who brought up racial disparities with me. And so I can tell you that we are very fortunate with all that she brings to this position in terms of her experience, her expertise, her knowledge, her so profoundly respected knowledge around how our economy works and how we can make it work. We’re very fortunate to have you serve as the secretary, and we thank you for this commitment that you have made to our country.
(10:11)
So thank you all. And this is a conversation we are going to be having a lot. Yes, this is February. It is Black History Month, but I think as we all are concerned, Black History Month is every month. And so this conversation is not only for today. It is part of an ongoing conversation we intend to have with you, as the leaders that you are. And you know, frankly, when I think about who you are and your members, in terms of the chambers, who they are, we’re talking, yes, about business leaders, but what we also know is that those business leaders are often also community leaders, civic leaders, and opinion leaders. And so the role of responsibility is transcendent in terms of the impact it has on the community. The role and the responsibility includes being part of the fabric of the community, contributing to the culture of the community, contributing to the growth and the pride of the community in which you work and where you are established.
(11:17)
And so that is the lens through which the president and I and the secretary are thinking about your role of leadership, and the partnership that we have, and we’ll continue to grow. But yeah, I did basically a rough assessment. And when we look at our Black businesses in our country, they range. We are talking about software companies. We’re talking about healthcare companies. Yes, we’re also talking about the beauty shop and the barbershop, but we are also talking about healthcare. We are also talking about childcare. We’re also talking about manufacturing, because Black businesses, of course, are engaged in the business of keeping America running. And so in every sector, these businesses are present. And that is how we think of, then, the role that you play, but also our responsibility to support you in all of those sectors.
(12:11)
And during this pandemic, as the secretary has said, this has been rough. We have all seen estimates that as many as 40 to 50% of Black businesses have closed, perhaps permanently. Nationally, we know small businesses, of which the majority of Black businesses are, employ 50% of America’s workforce, either because that worker is a small business owner or works for a small business. So when we’re talking about the impact on the overall economy and country, it’s profound, and our research also has shown that in the pandemic, and this is something that is a lived experience for many of you and your members, the PPP program was not accessible to so many of our Black owned businesses. And it had to do with the multiple…
(13:03)
… of our black owned businesses. And it had to do with the multitude of issues, which included that those businesses were not necessarily engaged with the big banks. Didn’t necessarily have the familiar or the consistent relationship, if not any relationship, with a banker who could then call somebody up and say, “Ms. Smith, this thing is coming down and this is how you apply for it.” But what we know is those relationships do exist. And so for whom those relationships are intact, they got the benefit. And for whom those relationships are not intact, they did not get the benefit of the PPP. So the president and I together with the secretary have been looking at how we can do better, knowing the mistakes that were made and improve on what we need to do to bring relief to the businesses of our country, to help our economy grow.
:(13:56)
So we are thinking of it in two ways, as a general matter. There is the piece of it that is about what we need to do to get control of the public health component crisis of the pandemic. And so I’m going to talk for a minute about vaccines. And it is about getting our businesses back up and running. Understanding those two points are inextricably linked. That one of the reasons we got into the catastrophe, the most recent catastrophe, I’m going to put aside preexisting issues, but the most recent catastrophe around our black businesses is because also we need to get control of the pandemic. So on the subject of the pandemic, we have crafted and the president has proposed the American Rescue Plan. And a large part of that plan is focused on vaccinations. And so for example, we are putting in $400 billion to have a vaccine distribution plan that is going to include, for example, in Oakland, California, at Oakland Coliseum and in Los Angeles, California at the Cal State LA, the first federally supported along with the state, vaccine distribution center.
(15:17)
We’re very excited about that. That’s going to be up and running, we believe, by February 15th. And this is the first time that the federal government has come in, sadly, since the pandemic started to support states to do the vaccine distribution piece. But that’s going to be up and running. So part of what we’re going to ask is for your assistance and support for that component, not only of the American Rescue Plan, but what we need to do to actually make it work, meaning getting folks to go and get vaccinated. Because it’s good to have a vaccine, but if folks don’t get vaccinated, it won’t save the lives we intend to save. We also have a part that is basically about bringing the economy back to full employment and doing that in a way that we understand that black workers see the biggest wage gains when the economy is at full employment.
(16:06)
So the way we are going to do that is, yes, by the vaccinations, but also we need to reopen schools and reopen them safely. So that is part of our American Rescue Plan. Also, we made a commitment for $2,000 of relief to families. There was a down payment on that in the previous bill of $600 and we intend, with this next bill, the American Rescue Plan, to have $1,400 checks going out to those folks who are most in need by way of relief. To help them get through this moment of crisis so that at the end of it, they can get back up and recover in the way that we intend. And also more specifically for our businesses, we are also creating a specific package of relief that is about $15 billion. This did not exist in previous bills, in the relief bills. $15 billion going to grant programs, not loans, grants, targeted at our smallest businesses of which the majority of black businesses are and targeted at our black and brown and minority owned businesses.
(17:13)
So this is some of the work we are doing, in addition to, as the secretary said, what we are doing around the CDFIs, the community development financial institutions. And as a point of personal pride, that was one of the last things I worked on when I was in the Senate together with Senator Cory Booker, Senator Mark Warner and others. And the idea is basically to put more capital, to infuse more resources into our community banks, knowing that those are the ones that have the relationships with our businesses and are best equipped to support them, not only by way of grants and loans, but also by way of helping them grow their businesses, helping and surrounding them with the infrastructure of skills and resources they need to sustain a business.
(18:03)
So these are some of the areas of focus. And my last point would be this, back in May I actually spoke with the California Black Chambers about the Paycheck Protection Program and the concern about the existing lines at lending banks and folks getting turned away. And so let us just say that we believe and the president believes this very strongly. If relief is not available to everyone who needs it, then we are not doing enough. And so part of the spirit behind the American Rescue Plan is to broaden the folks who are actually receiving the relief they need. And with that, I look forward to our conversation. Again, I want to thank all of you for what you do every day. And we look forward to this partnership as we go forward.
Ron Busby: (18:53)
Thank you, Madam Vice President. And being from Oakland, it is wonderful to be able to carry that message. Our chamber of the year last year was actually the Oakland African-American Chamber of Commerce. And they won that prestigious award based upon the efforts that they created during 2020. They actually raised, from donations, a million dollars and awarded grants to local black owned businesses up to $800,000 of those funds to make sure that black businesses that could not get what was needed from traditional, as well as CDFIs had the opportunity to continue to prosper. I’d like to invite Cathy Adams who’s the President and CEO of the California African-American, I’m sorry, the Oakland African-American Chamber of Commerce for our first question.
Thank you, everyone, for joining us this afternoon. I am truly honored to be with you as we have the opportunity to celebrate Black history, but also to talk about the current conditions of Black people, as well as to talk about how we engage and go forward for the future of this country, as it relates to Black America. I, again, am the president of the United States Black Chamber. We represent 146 Black chambers located throughout 42 states, including Canada and six countries in Africa, with a membership base of over 380,000 Black owned businesses, but we are the voice of over 2.6 million Black owned businesses.
(01:20)
The U.S. Black Chamber is founded on our five key pillars, and the first one is advocacy. And this afternoon we’re demonstrating our relationships, as well as the strength that we have that differentiates us from any other Black civil rights or any other chamber of commerce. This is what the U.S. Black Chamber is about. And you’ll hear it from both the vice president, as well as the secretary of treasury, to bring comments as well as concerns as it relates to our issues, specifically Black owned businesses. And one of those primary concerns is access to capital, and we all know it is a tremendous burden for Black business owners, as well as Black homeowners and communities to get affordable and accessible capital.
(02:06)
Our third one is contracting, and we are going to discuss with this administration about opportunities to do business with the federal government, as well as use their bully pulpit to make sure that corporate America is doing its role, as well. And lastly, as a Black collective, you have all heard the story about we have a trillion dollars of spending power. Our responsibility is to keep that trillions of dollars in our community to ensure that we have sustainability, not just through these difficult times, but to thrive after we get out.
(02:41)
The next one is really about entrepreneurial training, and as chamber leaders and business owners across the country, I was really surprised when we heard that 68% of Black businesses failed during the COVID period of time because they did not look for expert advice. We, as chamber leaders and business leaders across the country, have those relationships, have the acumen and skill, and we will make sure that we develop those businesses across the country.
(03:09)
And then last is chamber development, and I’m happy to have over 140 chambers join us this afternoon to talk about the New American Recovery Plan. It is really the details, and always the details, as well as the implementation of programs like this. It is our opportunity today to talk about how this can be succinct, as well as intentional for Black owned businesses, Black communities, and most importantly, Black families. This piece of legislation has been rolled out. The great thing about Black chambers is that we are located in both Republican as well as Democratic states, but we carry the voice of our constituents, our members, and the voters in those communities. And so I am happy to have you here to discuss the New American Recovery Plan, and I’m also happy to have four of my chamber leaders here to provide great questions and give insight to some of the concerns that they see locally, as well as around the country.
(04:14)
So without further ado, I’d like to first introduce the new secretary of treasury, the first female, as well as our good friend, Dr. Secretary Janet Yellen. Thank you.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (04:42) Thank you.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (04:42)You can speak into that camera.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (04:42)
Thank you, Ron, and thank you all for joining us. I know the members of the Black Chambers of Commerce have been very engaged in helping us respond to this economic crisis, and I’m looking forward to our conversation. I’ve been an economist for a long time, and one of the areas where I focused my attention is on racial disparities in economic outcomes. It was probably because I started studying economics during the civil rights movement. I took my first course around 1963. I was a freshman in college. And if you looked at the economic data back then, the average Black family possessed roughly 15% of the wealth of the average white family. That’s more than a six to one difference, and it’s stark, but perhaps it isn’t surprising. Jim Crow Laws were still in effect in many places.
(05:45)
What is surprising, though, is that it is now more than half a century later, and that six to one number has barely budged. Today, African-Americans remain unemployed at roughly twice the rate of white Americans. And that number hasn’t really changed in 50 years, either. It’s as close to a constant as you come in economic data. Indeed, if you somehow transported my freshman economics professor to 2021, and you only showed him the employment and wealth numbers, he would have had a hard time guessing that the country has passed the Civil Rights Act or that we elected our first Black president or our first Black vice president.
(06:37)
Instead, he might actually notice signs that the country had headed in the opposite direction, especially after 2008. During the last recession, the highest white unemployment rate ever reached was 9.2%, but Black unemployment was trapped above 10% for five years, and it peaked earlier, reaching almost 17%, and recovered slower than unemployment for almost any other group. And that is what economic crises do. They hit people of color harder and longer. They push our country away from our values, toward more inequality.
(07:23)
And I’m worried that the current crisis will do this again. In fact, I know it will, unless we act. During the early days of the pandemic, African-Americans with the first to lose their small businesses. They were the first to lose their jobs. And we’ve seen early data that suggests Black workers will be the last rehired when the economy opens back up. That’s why the American Rescue Plan is badly needed, to make sure that this pandemic isn’t another generational setback for racial equality, and better yet, to finally start building an economy that works for everyone.
Secretary Janet Yellen: (08:08)
I know this is a goal the vice president cares deeply about, too. In fact, it was the first thing she asked me to work on with her. When she swore me in as secretary, we spoke, and she asked me about providing more capital to community development financial institutions and minority depository institutions. These CDFIs and MDIs are so important, because they serve communities that the wider financial system traditionally hasn’t served well, especially communities of color. They give loans to people to buy homes and start businesses. Madam Vice President, I am very glad to be working with you on these issues and to be here with you today. And let me turn things over to you.
Vice President Kamala Harris: (08:58)
Thank you, Secretary Yellen, and greetings to everyone. I’m looking on this big screen at all of you. I see so many friends, and I see a screen full of national leaders. And so I want to thank you all for the time that you are giving to this conversation. Ron Busby, I thank you for bringing us together, my Oakland brother, but I just want to thank everyone. And let me just say, the secretary mentioned the conversation that she and I had when I swore her in, but we had a conversation before that, Madam Secretary, and it was during the time, it was before she was actually nominated and the process was in place. And we had a conversation about how she was thinking of the job.
(09:42)
And she’s the one who brought up racial disparities with me. And so I can tell you that we are very fortunate with all that she brings to this position in terms of her experience, her expertise, her knowledge, her so profoundly respected knowledge around how our economy works and how we can make it work. We’re very fortunate to have you serve as the secretary, and we thank you for this commitment that you have made to our country.
(10:11)
So thank you all. And this is a conversation we are going to be having a lot. Yes, this is February. It is Black History Month, but I think as we all are concerned, Black History Month is every month. And so this conversation is not only for today. It is part of an ongoing conversation we intend to have with you, as the leaders that you are. And you know, frankly, when I think about who you are and your members, in terms of the chambers, who they are, we’re talking, yes, about business leaders, but what we also know is that those business leaders are often also community leaders, civic leaders, and opinion leaders. And so the role of responsibility is transcendent in terms of the impact it has on the community. The role and the responsibility includes being part of the fabric of the community, contributing to the culture of the community, contributing to the growth and the pride of the community in which you work and where you are established.
(11:17)
And so that is the lens through which the president and I and the secretary are thinking about your role of leadership, and the partnership that we have, and we’ll continue to grow. But yeah, I did basically a rough assessment. And when we look at our Black businesses in our country, they range. We are talking about software companies. We’re talking about healthcare companies. Yes, we’re also talking about the beauty shop and the barbershop, but we are also talking about healthcare. We are also talking about childcare. We’re also talking about manufacturing, because Black businesses, of course, are engaged in the business of keeping America running. And so in every sector, these businesses are present. And that is how we think of, then, the role that you play, but also our responsibility to support you in all of those sectors.
(12:11)
And during this pandemic, as the secretary has said, this has been rough. We have all seen estimates that as many as 40 to 50% of Black businesses have closed, perhaps permanently. Nationally, we know small businesses, of which the majority of Black businesses are, employ 50% of America’s workforce, either because that worker is a small business owner or works for a small business. So when we’re talking about the impact on the overall economy and country, it’s profound, and our research also has shown that in the pandemic, and this is something that is a lived experience for many of you and your members, the PPP program was not accessible to so many of our Black owned businesses. And it had to do with the multiple…
(13:03)
… of our black owned businesses. And it had to do with the multitude of issues, which included that those businesses were not necessarily engaged with the big banks. Didn’t necessarily have the familiar or the consistent relationship, if not any relationship, with a banker who could then call somebody up and say, “Ms. Smith, this thing is coming down and this is how you apply for it.” But what we know is those relationships do exist. And so for whom those relationships are intact, they got the benefit. And for whom those relationships are not intact, they did not get the benefit of the PPP. So the president and I together with the secretary have been looking at how we can do better, knowing the mistakes that were made and improve on what we need to do to bring relief to the businesses of our country, to help our economy grow.
:(13:56)
So we are thinking of it in two ways, as a general matter. There is the piece of it that is about what we need to do to get control of the public health component crisis of the pandemic. And so I’m going to talk for a minute about vaccines. And it is about getting our businesses back up and running. Understanding those two points are inextricably linked. That one of the reasons we got into the catastrophe, the most recent catastrophe, I’m going to put aside preexisting issues, but the most recent catastrophe around our black businesses is because also we need to get control of the pandemic. So on the subject of the pandemic, we have crafted and the president has proposed the American Rescue Plan. And a large part of that plan is focused on vaccinations. And so for example, we are putting in $400 billion to have a vaccine distribution plan that is going to include, for example, in Oakland, California, at Oakland Coliseum and in Los Angeles, California at the Cal State LA, the first federally supported along with the state, vaccine distribution center.
(15:17)
We’re very excited about that. That’s going to be up and running, we believe, by February 15th. And this is the first time that the federal government has come in, sadly, since the pandemic started to support states to do the vaccine distribution piece. But that’s going to be up and running. So part of what we’re going to ask is for your assistance and support for that component, not only of the American Rescue Plan, but what we need to do to actually make it work, meaning getting folks to go and get vaccinated. Because it’s good to have a vaccine, but if folks don’t get vaccinated, it won’t save the lives we intend to save. We also have a part that is basically about bringing the economy back to full employment and doing that in a way that we understand that black workers see the biggest wage gains when the economy is at full employment.
(16:06)
So the way we are going to do that is, yes, by the vaccinations, but also we need to reopen schools and reopen them safely. So that is part of our American Rescue Plan. Also, we made a commitment for $2,000 of relief to families. There was a down payment on that in the previous bill of $600 and we intend, with this next bill, the American Rescue Plan, to have $1,400 checks going out to those folks who are most in need by way of relief. To help them get through this moment of crisis so that at the end of it, they can get back up and recover in the way that we intend. And also more specifically for our businesses, we are also creating a specific package of relief that is about $15 billion. This did not exist in previous bills, in the relief bills. $15 billion going to grant programs, not loans, grants, targeted at our smallest businesses of which the majority of black businesses are and targeted at our black and brown and minority owned businesses.
(17:13)
So this is some of the work we are doing, in addition to, as the secretary said, what we are doing around the CDFIs, the community development financial institutions. And as a point of personal pride, that was one of the last things I worked on when I was in the Senate together with Senator Cory Booker, Senator Mark Warner and others. And the idea is basically to put more capital, to infuse more resources into our community banks, knowing that those are the ones that have the relationships with our businesses and are best equipped to support them, not only by way of grants and loans, but also by way of helping them grow their businesses, helping and surrounding them with the infrastructure of skills and resources they need to sustain a business.
(18:03)
So these are some of the areas of focus. And my last point would be this, back in May I actually spoke with the California Black Chambers about the Paycheck Protection Program and the concern about the existing lines at lending banks and folks getting turned away. And so let us just say that we believe and the president believes this very strongly. If relief is not available to everyone who needs it, then we are not doing enough. And so part of the spirit behind the American Rescue Plan is to broaden the folks who are actually receiving the relief they need. And with that, I look forward to our conversation. Again, I want to thank all of you for what you do every day. And we look forward to this partnership as we go forward.
Ron Busby: (18:53)
Thank you, Madam Vice President. And being from Oakland, it is wonderful to be able to carry that message. Our chamber of the year last year was actually the Oakland African-American Chamber of Commerce. And they won that prestigious award based upon the efforts that they created during 2020. They actually raised, from donations, a million dollars and awarded grants to local black owned businesses up to $800,000 of those funds to make sure that black businesses that could not get what was needed from traditional, as well as CDFIs had the opportunity to continue to prosper. I’d like to invite Cathy Adams who’s the President and CEO of the California African-American, I’m sorry, the Oakland African-American Chamber of Commerce for our first question.
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