As part of the GRI Whitepaper Series, GRI has released 10 Special Investigation Reports supported by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These reports bring together analysis and policy recommendations in cross-cutting critical areas including municipal and state budgets, housing, food, healthcare, K-12 education, childcare, higher education, small business, energy, and fisheries. Each sector-specific report was authored by subject matter experts of these areas from GRI’s Northeastern Faculty Affiliates and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, providing an in-depth, accessible review of the challenges, opportunities and actionable policy considerations in each area facing the COVID-19 crisis.

Excerpt:

Developing local businesses recovery and resilience is essential to ensure holistic economic recovery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To better understand how to develop this recovery and resilience in the New England region, we carried out this Special Investigation Report on Local Business Resilience. For this report we employ a mixed method technique by conducting interviews and analyzing data on consumer spending from the Mastercard Retail Location Insights (MCRLI) database. Interviews were conducted in 18 communities across all 6 New England states with stakeholders from the public and private sectors. The data gathered from both the interviews and the MCRLI data platform provide robust support for the findings highlighted in this report.

View the Full Report