COVID-19 is presenting us with two crises, a health crisis and an economic crisis, especially with the public health crisis dramatically reducing economic activity and overall spending. Due to communities of color being hit the hardest, this pandemic has highlighted the US’s face of inequality and racism even more.

Today, I sit down with Claire Kramer and Mark Madrid to discuss this and further impacts of COVID-19 on Black and Brown communities.

Claire Kramer is the Assistant Vice President and Director of Community Development Analysis at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Claire leads a team that promotes economic opportunity by equipping community stakeholders with rigorous data analysis and tools to make impactful investments. One such example of this is the Small Business Credit Survey that was launched by the New York Fed and has been widely covered by the likes of Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, CNN, and more.

Mark Madrid is the CEO of the Latino Business Action Network (LBAN). As a non-profit organization, LBAN focuses on strengthening the U.S. by improving the lives of Latinos, empowering Latino entrepreneurs to grow their businesses through research, education, and ecosystem development. After a successful career in banking, the 2008 Great Recession led Mark to chart a purposeful course, circling back to his Latino roots and harnessing the economic value of Latinos. This led him to launch the next era of his career.