ASC's Intersections Newsletter — Week of February 21, 2022
Nora's Note
Time to get this right. There’s nothing easy about owning a small business, but reading about Black women entrepreneurs during Black History Month, I have learned a new definition of hard. I’m closing the month with Behind the Scenes, Elizabeth Keckley’s 1868 autobiography describing her experiences as an enslaved person and entrepreneur. After being separated from her family as a child and resold repeatedly, Keckley developed needlework skills that led to wealthy women chipping in $1,200 for a loan Keckley used to buy her freedom, open a shop and become a dressmaker to the likes of Mary Todd Lincoln in Washington, D.C. Fast forward 150 years and Black women, the fastest growing demographic of entrepreneurs in the U.S., still face headwinds against their success. They experience more loan denials and higher interest rates than their competitors and inequities in access to capital (61% of Black women self-fund compared with 41% of white women and 32% of men) that keep barriers to equity in place. Keckley wrote “the good that I have said of human servitude should be thrown into the scales with the evil I have said of it,” but it’s well past time we muster the courage to look evil in the eye and give everyone a rightful seat at the entrepreneurial table.
Congratulations from ASC
ASC congratulates Gov. Kathy Hochul and NYSERDA President Doreen Harris for their visionary support of the New York Community Colleges Energy Equity (NYCCEE) Consortium’s proposal to prepare New Yorkers from underserved communities for jobs in the clean energy economy. Learn more about the proposal here.
Transportation
Transport Topics: U.S. oks new headlights that won’t blind oncoming drivers. To make night driving safer, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has legalized adaptive driving beam headlights (ADBs) for new vehicles. ADBs have LED lights that use camera sensors and computers to automatically focus on dark areas of the road, reducing glare for oncoming drivers and improving pedestrian and cyclist visibility. Officials hope the use of this technology will slow the increasing number of traffic deaths in the U.S. Read more for details on the technology behind ADB headlights.
CNBC: White House rolls out $5 billion funding plan to states for electric vehicle chargers
AmNY: NYC Transit rebound continues as 3 million commuters rode subways three straight days last week
Mass Transit: San Fransisco rolls out battery electric bus pilot program
NY Times: A ‘Fair Fares’ Program So Exclusive, Barely Anyone Can Qualify For It
CityLab: With Bike Buses, Kid Cyclists Dominate the Road
The Hill: Utah changed its drunk driving threshold and crash fatality numbers dropped
Philadelphia Inquirer: Passenger traffic at Philadelphia International Airport still down over 40% from pre-pandemic levels
Transportation Today: New Jersey awards $8.6M grants for Safe Streets to Transit Program
Energy/Environment
NBC News: U.S. megadrought worst in at least 1,200 years, researchers say. According to a new study analyzing historic water availability and soil moisture, the current drought in the Southwest United States represents the driest period of time throughout the last 1,200 years. While droughts occur naturally, the researchers suggest U.S. droughts have been made far more severe and frequent due to climate change. Read more for in-depth analysis of how the researchers came to these conclusions.
The Verge: Engineers are building bridges with recycled wind turbine blades
AP News: UN to finalize science report on how warming hits home hard
Utility Dive: DOE to offer $3 billion to boost battery production, recycling
Reuters: U.S. corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline, study finds
Grist: Biden administration could finally define what ‘clean’ manufacturing is
NPR: Ocean water along U.S. coasts will rise about one foot by 2050, scientists warn
Bloomberg Green: The Case Against Methane Emissions Keeps Getting Stronger
NextGov: Upcoming Department of Energy Playbook Aims to Guide Innovation 'in Big Ways'
Economic Development
Smart Cities Dive: Local leaders offer incentives to boost public engagement in city planning. Officials in major cities across the United States have recently offered residents grocery store gift cards and travel vouchers to encourage participation in public engagement efforts. By offering compensation, city officials hope to see more participation from community members that may experience barriers to full participation in the engagement process. Read more to learn what kinds of incentives cities are offering and how this practice is impacting outcomes for community engagement efforts.
Solar Power World: NYSERDA seeks federal grant to train displaced fossil fuel workers for clean energy jobs
Statescoop: Biden tells counties Rescue Plan funds can be used to prepare for infrastructure boost
CNBC: More Covid relief for small businesses? Struggling industries hope that’s the case
Route Fifty: EPA Chief Pledges to Get Dollars to Left Out Communities
Pew Stateline: States Craft Their COVID Exit Strategies
Axios: Small business creation explodes during pandemic
CNN: No end to America's rising prices—Another inflation measure rose in January
Boston Globe: With Omicron on the wane, consumers edge back out into the world, but carefully
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