The coronavirus pandemic is wreaking havoc in our communities. We have already been facing a crisis caused by the City’s racist displacement agenda that has targeted communities of color. Small businesses have already been shuttering or cutting workers’ hours, while working people have been forced to double or triple up in homes, to deal with rising rents. Now, we are facing an even more rapid closure of small businesses and loss of jobs and hours. Many workers living paycheck to paycheck cannot afford to stay home and lose wages, and living in crowded conditions makes self-quarantining impossible. 

We call on everyone to join us in demanding the city not use this pandemic to further displace our businesses and community member and provide relief for working people. We demand the city and state government to immediately:

1. Establish an emergency relief fund to help workers, regardless of their immigration status, who are laid off or have their hours cut as a result of the economic impact of the virus, and help workers easily obtain unemployment benefits; 

2. Cut small businesses’ real estate tax or rent and/or provide rent relief for small businesses. 

3. Establish medical facilities that can be easily accessed by patients to get tested and receive necessary treatment quickly and be quarantined if necessary, instead of self-quarantining. 

4. Establish an emergency relief fund to help workers for lost wages when they test positive for the COVID-19 and need to be quarantined, regardless of their immigration status. 

5. Demand the President issue a Disaster Declaration to include direct economic assistance to individuals.

Sign the petition to demand relief fund for workers and small businesses in response to coronavirus:
http://bit.ly/smallbzandworkers