New Orleans Arts Organizations Establish an Emergency Relief Fund to Support Artists Impacted By COVID-19
COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus pandemic, has caused an economic fallout that some say rivals the Great Depression with a record number of people filing for unemployment due to hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost as a result. The public health crisis has been particularly difficult for those working in the arts industry who are prohibited from holding public gatherings larger than 10 people under federal and state bans. Cities like New Orleans are fighting to save its arts community under the pandemic and now local arts organizations are coming forward.
Antenna, Ashe Cultural Arts Center, Junebug Productions, and The Weavers Fellowship have come together to create an emergency relief fund to help local artists in the city who have been impacted by the coronavirus. The move is a part of a larger initiative called the Creative Response to support creators impacted by the public health crisis. The fund will offer emergency grants of $2,000 to local creators as well as distribute art and activity kits to New Orleans youth.
“While there would never be a welcome moment for such a crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the city of New Orleans during the busiest time of the year for local economic activity in the arts—during festival season—and thus has hit local creators at a particularly vulnerable moment,” said Bob Snead, Antenna executive director. “As a result, this rapid response initiative is designed to provide direct economic support and opportunities to creators including grants and gig-work, alongside the distribution of art and activity kits for young people to do while they are at home in the midst of the crisis, all while aiming to be an outlet and source of inspiration —reminding us all of the resiliency of the creative spirit.”
Essential Workers Could Get Up To $25,000 In Hazard Pay Under Senate Proposal
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, or the novel coronavirus, many states have issued mandatory lockdowns, causing all residents to stay at home, closing down all non-essential businesses to contain the spread of the virus. Although many companies have closed their doors, essential workers, including grocery store workers, nurses, and deliverymen, are on the frontlines battling the worst of the pandemic while exposing themselves to infection. Now Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer and other Democrats are proposing to give doctors, nurses, and other essential workers up to $25,000 in hazard pay as part of phase four of the coronavirus relief bill.
Essential workers may be able to get a $25,000 raise soon if a new plan from Senate Democrats passes. The plan would lead to the creation of a COVID-19 “Heroes Fund” to “reward, retain, and recruit essential workers,” Senate Democrats said in a statement this week.
The fund would provide $25,000 for “pandemic premium pay increase for essential frontline workers” until the end of 2020. Workers would get an additional $13 per hour on top of their regular wages, capped at $25,000. The full raise would be available to people making less than $200,000 per year; those making more would be capped at $5,000.
The fund would also provide a one-time $15,000 hiring bonus to “attract and secure” a workforce to fight the coronavirus. It would apply to people who enlist as healthcare or home-care workers or first responders where “severe staffing shortages” are “impeding the ability to provide care during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
“As the COVID pandemic has reached alarming new levels, our health care system is strained to the max, our economy is strained to the max. Doctors and nurses, medical personnel of all types are putting their lives on the line every single day to fight this disease and save others,” Schumer said on a conference call introducing the proposal according to The Hill. “For these Americans, working from home is not an option. Social distancing is not an option.”
More Than 200 Inmates at Cook County Jail Infected With Coronavirus
Cook County Jail in Chicago is home to the highest number of coronavirus cases in a single area in the entire country.
According to Black News, the jail currently has 355 cases since the pandemic started, including 238 inmates and 115 staff members. The jail is the country’s largest with more than 4,500 inmates and the number of infected could increase even more as a vast majority of inmates have yet to be tested.
The inmates that tested positive have been isolated and 17 inmates who have significant symptoms have been hospitalized.
“I’m confident we’re going to get through this,” Sheriff Thomas J. Dart told the New York Times, “but I could really use some more definition about how long the virus can last in an environment like this.”
Prisons are one of the most vulnerable places for the coronavirus. Many jails across the U.S. are overcrowded and littered with unsanitary conditions. Add in the lack of healthcare and prisons are like a petri dish for the virus.
According to the New York Board of Corrections, 273 inmates, 321 employees, and 53 health workers, have tested positive for the virus since the outbreak began. It was also reported that Michael Tyson, a 53-year-old man who was jailed for a technical parole violation on Rikers Island, died on Sunday at Bellevue Hospital.
Law enforcement agencies across the country have begun releasing inmates that were convicted of low-level crimes in an effort to keep coronavirus cases down. New York City has released more than 900 inmates in recent days due to the virus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a March 31 press briefing.
“It is a very complicated dynamic, it’s one that we’ve literally never, dealt with before,” the mayor said last week.
At the Lakeland Correctional Facility in Michigan, 33 inmates in the facility have tested positive for coronavirus. So far, two inmates have died from the virus including one who passed away Thursday. There are 262 prisoners who have tested positive across the state.
Prisons aren’t the only institutions that risk infection. More than 700 employees at a Detroit hospital have tested positive for coronavirus. Healthcare workers and low-wage workers, including many essential workers at supermarkets, warehouses, and plants, are among the most vulnerable to be infected because they cannot telecommute and are forced to interact with the public.
Dr. Fauci Believes People Should Never Shake Hands Again
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, said on a Wall Street Journal podcast that he believes people should never shake hands again.
“When you gradually come back, you don’t jump into it with both feet,” Fauci told Kate Linebaugh on The Journal Wednesday. “You say, what are the things you could still do and still approach normal? One of them is absolute compulsive hand-washing. The other is you don’t ever shake anybody’s hands.
“I don’t think we should ever shake hands ever again, to be honest with you. Not only would it be good to prevent coronavirus disease; it probably would decrease instances of influenza dramatically in this country,” Fauci added.
When asked on the podcast when or if life will get back to normal, Fauci said it will be a slow build that could take some time.
“It isn’t like a light switch on and off, it’s a gradual pulling back on certain of the restrictions and getting society a bit back to normal. . . bottom line, it’s going to be gradual,” Fauci said.
Fauci doubled down on his handshake claim later Wednesday at a White House press briefing.
“I mean it sounds crazy, but that’s the way it’s really got to be,” he said.
Fauci added that if current social-distancing measures are successful in slowing the spread of coronavirus through the end of April, it could be appropriate to start thinking about relaxing some restrictions. Additionally, he praised states and citizens for following quarantine restrictions, which has brought death estimates down from between 100,000 and over 200,000.
The final toll currently “looks more like 60,000 than the 100,000 to 200,000” that U.S. officials previously estimated, Fauci said in the briefing.
The coronavirus outbreak has led to more than 450,000 being infected, 16,000 of whom have succumbed to the disease. The virus has changed the world in just 6 months. Apple is now producing face masks and Bill Gates is risking billions of dollars on finding a vaccine.
Faith Leaders Urge Worshippers to Stay Home During Upcoming Holidays Amid COVID-19
Getting through the COVID-19 health crisis requires faith—even if it’s the size of a mustard seed. It also requires staying home to help flatten the curve. And that is why faith leaders are urging worshippers to stay home and holy for the holidays. On Wednesday, during a press call organized by the Center for American Progress, U.S. House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.) and faith leaders cautioned worshippers to adhere to the guidance of public health officials and avoid public gatherings during Passover, Easter, and Ramadan.
A number of faith leaders and pastors have created digital worship experiences for members of their congregation to keep people safe. But there are others who have not followed suit. As a result, public officials have threatened to fine religious institutions that hold large faith gatherings.
To further encourage people, the group created the hashtag #StayHomeStayHoly to build community around the cause online.
In a statement released by the Center for American Progress, Clyburn, who chairs the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus Crisis as well as the Democratic Faith Working Group, said: “Just as we look to our political leaders, our government officials to make the kinds of decisions that would keep us safe and secure in our homes and in our communities, we as faith leaders should do what we can to contribute to that.” He went on to say, “One of the things that contributes to that significantly is our #StayHomeStayHoly movement. Let me repeat that: stay home and stay holy.”
Leaders from the Catholic and Jewish communities also urged members of their groups to have faith during moments of isolation.
Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice said, “We are rooted in this moment that feels like Good Friday, when Jesus suffered alone on the cross. But like Jesus, we are not truly alone, even if we’re separate. Together in community, we can be our better selves. We can care for those who are struggling and ill. This is our Easter lesson: being at the cross, in the suffering, knowing that it is our solidarity that will see us through. We will know the rebirth of Easter, but it may take a while. It will come if we stay home and stay holy.”
Stress and anxiety are at an all-time high for many Americans as they learn to adapt to a new normal mentally, spiritually, physically, emotionally, and financially. To that point, Rabbi Sharon Brous, founder and senior rabbi of the Los Angeles-based Jewish congregation IKAR, encourages members of the Jewish faith to not be anxious as they begin Passover.
“To honor and abide the physical act of separation is an act of love toward our neighbors and ourselves,” Brous said. “When we abide this temporary isolation, that’s how we demonstrate that we refuse to see one another as expendable.”
Not being able to gather and celebrate important religious holidays will also be a challenge for members of the Muslim community. Wajahat Ali, a New York Times contributing op-ed writer and senior fellow at Auburn Seminary in New York City, said that honoring Ramadan will be challenging due to the lack of daily get-togethers which is custom.
“God wants us to do the most good and the least amount of harm,” Ali said. “It is incumbent upon the rest of us to model a new type of behavior during these holy weeks and these holy months. We stay holy by staying home. And hopefully we can model that type of responsible behavior and ethical behavior that then maybe can inspire our political leadership to come up with a national strategy that puts lives above profit.”
In the words of the leaders, stay home and stay holy.
As the nation adapts to the new normal, be sure to stay in the loop on how COVID-19 is impacting the black community. Click here for more news.
Tech Veteran Shellye Archambeau Is Unapologetically Ambitious
Featuring a broad cross-section of women who have distinguished themselves across a rich variety of careers, our Portraits of Power series is a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Black Enterprise, and of black women. It’s a place for today’s businesswomen to share their own favorite images and their own stories, in their own words. Today’s portrait is tech veteran Shellye Archambeau, who sits on the board of directors of Verizon and Nordstrom.
My first job was cleaning horse stalls at a barn to pay for horseback riding lessons (not counting babysitting).
My big break came when I was hired to be president of Blockbuster.com.
I’ve had to work hardest at stepping back so others can develop into strong leaders.
I never imagined I would live and work as an executive in Japan.
I wish I’d learnedsooner the value of setting expectations at home as well as at work.
The risk I regret not taking is moving to Silicon Valley sooner.
If I could design my fantasy self-care day, it would be spent at a spa starting with exercise, stretching, massage, a healthy lunch, then a facial, mani/pedi, and ending with reading a good book on a lounge chair overlooking a great view with a glass of champagne.
My grief over losing my husband of 34 years keeps me up at night.
When I’m struggling, I say to myself, “you can do this, you can do this.” I say it over and over in a loop. If I still can’t, I find someone to help me.
IRS Speeds Up Printing, Delivery of Coronavirus Checks
Americans who are struggling with unemployment or reduced hours due to the COVID-19 outbreak may be getting relief faster than expected in the form of coronavirus checks.
According to Fox Business, the Internal Revenue Service announced Wednesday it’s sped up its processes and now the agency is targeting next week to begin directly depositing coronavirus checks to citizens. According to the agency direct depositing could begin as soon as Monday and checks can be mailed starting April 20.
For citizens who want to change their direct depositing option, the agency will provide that option by the end of the week. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin originally announced checks would be released by April 17.
The payouts are part of the $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package designed to help businesses and unemployed Americans. Single adults will receive $1,200 per adult for those with adjusted gross incomes of up to $75,000 and married couples who make up to $150,000 will receive $2,400 and an extra $500 per child.
The announcement by the IRS comes after more than 6 million people signed up for unemployment benefits last week, pushing jobless claims above 16 million in the U.S. Things could get worse as the Federal Reserve estimates 47 million citizens will become unemployed due to the economic effects of the virus.
The coronavirus has had such an impact on jobs and the economy, lawmakers are currently working on a second bill.
Additionally, Mnuchin told CNBC’s Jim Cramer Thursday the U.S. could open up by next month.
“I do, Jim,” Mnuchin said to Cramer during an interview on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street. “I think as soon as the president feels comfortable with the medical issues,” Mnuchin added.
Some states have been flooded with unemployment claims. ABC News posted a video on Twitter showing hundreds in line at a Miami unemployment office to sign up for benefits Tuesday, violating quarantine restrictions. Florida has since released a mobile app to make it easier for residents to sign up for unemployment benefits.
Will Smith Launches ‘Will From Home’ Snapchat Series
After conquering music, television, and movies, The Fresh Prince wants to expand his kingdom to social media. Will Smith will produce and star in a Snapchat series called Will From Home, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
The mobile series, which dropped its first show last week, will feature the actor and rapper chillin’ in his garage, on self-quarantine, during the novel coronavirus pandemic. Smith plans on doing 12 episodes where he will talk to his family, friends, special guests, and everyday people who are also staying at home and practicing social distancing.
The idea for Will From Home came out of recent conversations between Snapchat and Smith’s production company, Westbrook Media. Snapchat head of original content Sean Mills says the talks were about how the constraints imposed by the global shutdown would birth “new forms of creativity and new ways to tell stories.”
“Will was feeling a lot of pent-up creative energy and was excited to do something with it in a new and different way,” Mills told The Hollywood Reporter.
People who are interested in the content, which is being produced by Smith’s Westbrook Media, can watch new episodes via Smith’s official Snapchat account on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
“Our first reaction was to shore up the news coverage and really deliver on that,” says Mills. “But after a week-and-a-half or so, we started to see a huge surge in interest in entertainment content, especially humor and comedy.”
He adds, “The kinds of things that the community wants are things that are positive, that feel empowering. It’s not just about escapism but it’s about actually what is the good that can come of a challenging moment in time. Will From Home fits perfectly with that.”
Will From Home is part of Snapchat’s response to the pandemic. The mobile service has a Discover platform that now has a dedicated section for coronavirus-related news and updates from partners including CNN, NBC News, and The Wall Street Journal. The company, which has seen an overall increase in engagement, has stated that there have been more than 68 million users who have viewed content about COVID-19 on the platform.
Fashion Nova Launches $1MM COVID-19 Relief Fund In Partnership with Cardi B
Fashion Nova and Cardi B are teaming up again. But this time it’s to help people impacted by COVID-19. In 2019, the hit rapper and fashionista collaborated with the popular clothing brand for a line that sold out in hours. Now together again, Cardi B and Fashion Nova will donate $1,000 every hour for the next 42 days until May 20th, totaling $1MM through Fashion Nova Cares.
The announcement came as a pleasant surprise to many of the brand’s loyalists. In a statement released by Fashion Nova Cares, Richard Saghian, founder and CEO of Fashion Nova said, “Today we are proud to announce Fashion Nova Cares, a COVID-19 relief effort we are launching alongside Cardi B. This initiative was established to provide immediate relief to those who need it most. We acknowledge that people are suffering both in health and in finance and we hope that our donations can help alleviate some of that personal hardship.”
Over the past few weeks, Cardi B has used her social media platform to weigh in on how COVID-19 is impacting people living in vulnerable communities and the nation. In efforts to educate millions of her followers, Cardi B has gone live routinely to share current events and let people know that she stands in solidarity with them as they face these challenging times.
In a recent Instagram post, Cardi shared the news and wrote, “Many of you are struggling to pay bills, feed your families, and take care of your overall essential needs.”
Fashion Nova is committed to giving back.
“As a brand, we will continue to deliver you the product and content you know and love from Fashion Novae. We are with you and we encourage you to stay safe and stay home. WE will get through this together,” said Saghian.
To read more about how COVID-19 is impacting the community, click here.
Poll Shows Americans Would Rather Have Barack Obama Handling Coronavirus Outbreak
A new survey shows voters would rather have former President Barack Obama at the helm handling the coronavirus outbreak than President Donald Trump.
According to Forbes, a Politico/Morning Consult poll released Wednesday shows 38% of 1,990 voters believe Obama would be a better president during this crisis. Obama has largely faded from the spotlight since his run as president ended. However, he’s been more vocal in recent weeks due to the coronavirus.
This week alone Obama tweeted his support of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s response to the coronavirus outbreak. He also criticized Trump’s current response to the outbreak. The former president also called for a nationwide testing program when the U.S. begins rolling back social distancing restrictions.
The survey also found 42% of voters rated Trump’s handling of the outbreak as poor. Trump has been criticized by politicians and the media for not responding fast enough. Trump has said he responded quickly to the virus, instituting a travel ban on foreigners who had recently traveled to China on Jan. 31, though experts at the World Health Organization have since said travel bans are largely ineffective in stopping a pandemic.
Trump earlier this week reached out to Democratic candidate Joe Biden for his thoughts and ideas on how to get the outbreak under control. Both Trump and Biden described the call as a good one.
“I laid out what I thought he should be doing,” Biden said Tuesday on CNN. “I laid out four or five specific points that I thought were necessary. I indicated that it is about taking responsibility, and being the commander in chief, taking on the responsibility.”
“It was a very nice conversation,” Trump added. “He gave me his point of view and I fully understood that.”
Trump did not say if he would implement any of Biden’s ideas.
