The necessary lockdowns to reduce the spread of COVID-19, along with the ensuing reduction in consumer demand, have created huge economic challenges for small businesses, especially those owned by Latino or Black business owners. To prevent a massive wave of layoffs and small business closures, the U.S. Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic […]
This new research brief by CNK in partnership with the National Housing Services of Los Angeles County summarizes the current state of Black homeownership in Los Angeles County and highlights some of the challenges currently brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Homeownership is a critical issue because it remains a primary source of asset accumulation, […]
For two weeks starting today, the Paycheck Protection Program will be open only to especially small companies, firms that employ fewer than 20 people. It’s part of several tweaks the Biden administration has made to the loan program, money that becomes a grant if criteria are met. The Paycheck Protection Program has distributed more than […]
In an KQED article, CNK Director Paul Ong was interviewed to discuss the disproportionate access for marginalized communities in receiving unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. “During the pandemic, we saw a much more rapid and steeper escalation of the unemployment rate for Asian Americans,” Ong said, “and we saw that particularly for the less […]
A year since the coronavirus spread globally, many small business owners in Chinatowns around the world are closing down, yet there remains hope for recovery. CNK Director Paul Ong was recently interviewed with Reuters, discussing the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic has had on small businesses within ethnic enclaves, in particular Chinatowns worldwide. “But Chinatowns, in […]
Place-based vulnerability indices are valuable analytical tools that policy makers could use to prioritize the most-at-risk neighborhoods for interventions, including the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. The indicators, nonetheless, may not be appropriate for many at-risk populations, particularly smaller groups that tend to be less geographically concentrated. To better understand the limitations of four vulnerability indicators, […]
CNK Director Paul Ong was recently featured in a NBC News article discussing how the Biden administration can build unity amongst immigrant communities after four years of Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies targeting and excluding these communities. “I implore the Biden administration to live up to its call for unity by precisely not using this […]
This past week, our recent COVID report was recently featured on the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health website. Led by CNK Director Paul Ong and supported by UCLA Fielding School professors Vickie Mays and Ninez Ponce and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research‘s California Health Interview Survey, the study assessing four vulnerability indicators being used by public agencies to select the most […]
A recent UCLA Newsroom press release centers the critical work of CNK and our director, Paul Ong, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. “The way we work is that we tap into people’s passions and commitment to doing good,” said Ong. The team at CNK is small, numbering between two and two dozen, depending on funding and how many […]
CNK Director Paul Ong was recently featured as a guest on The World, a public radio program and podcast that crosses borders and time zones to bring home the stories that matter. Ong discussed how small businesses across the country have struggled during the pandemic, but many located in Chinatowns have been hit especially hard and […]