Adheres to social distancing guidelines. Restrictions, there will not be individual photos today. Thank you. Frmr vp biden that is assuming you would want one. Thank you, Vice President , the third here in Congressional District in one of the most fantastic places in the city and the state. You will seeally today and hear from all of these fantastic people some great stories. The residents of West Philadelphia, where we are, they things, andntastic this is a great opportunity. Tiffany, dont be bashful, the Vice President invites you, it is your chance to speak your mind. Tell me what you were telling me in the back room. How are you . I am the owner of a fullservice optical store in West Philadelphia as well as having my business in West Philadelphia, i am a resident. We have been in operations for three and a half years now. I have a lot of ideas of what should happen in West Philadelphia. Frmr vp biden i am looking forward to hearing them. Tamika also was on the front worker inhe essential what she does. She is in a very proud union that does a lot for the city and this country. I had an opportunity just listening to tamikas story. Why dont you tell the Vice President . I am a social worker. I worked on 15th street. I also live in west philly. To find out what can be done differently. So things dont happen the way they are happening now. Vice president , here is someone, we have known each other, i will not say how many years, but we have known each other a lot. In addition to talking about the enterprise center, i would like her to give you history of this location so the Vice President has a feel. Dancep biden i can never well. [laughter] you are sitting in the birthplace of american dance. This was the first building built in our country as a television station that at that time, he owned the Philadelphia Inquirer and the letters for the radio, dick clark used to stand in front of that mural, this is where the bleachers used to be. This was the dance floor. My last name happened to be clark. Frmr vp biden you are kidding. I took a picture around this building and said he was my first husband. This was before integration. I ended up with the building. I am pleased to tell you we have been in this room 23 years. When we moved in 23 years ago we opened up our door without any debt because i was able to convince the federal government, the state, the city, we could not afford to open our doors because we knew we could not financially induced we could not have minority entrepreneurs. The organization is 30 years old. I have been here 28 years of the 30 years. Frmr vp biden you have done a heckuva job. I knew when i walked into the enterprise center, i was standing here until my job is done. I will give you some orders before i leave. [laughter] frmr vp biden i dont have any doubt about that. I dont have any doubt. To talk about the plan . All,vp biden first of thank you well. Do we have copies ok. The National Bureau of labor statistics points out there is 3. 3 million Business Owners that shut their doors since february. God willing, allowable open up 41 ofbut africanamerican businesses shut their doors. Businesses. 19 white businesses. Aboutmay have forgotten coronavirus, but it has not forgotten about us. We have 20 million unemployed, you know that. The failure to respond to the pandemic, i think, the federal thernment has advocated, white house at least, has abdicated that role. , and with ising his inability to focus on any federal responsibility, saying, i take no responsibility, its not my problem. One what i have laid out here for you is the outlines of a major a much Larger Initiative that i elected, that we are going to be able to do. To give guidance. Better guidance than we have been able to give. What i talk about here is, trump has basically had a one point plan. Open businesses. To keepoes nothing workers safe and keep businesses able to stay open. Secondly, it has done very little to generate consumer confidence. A lot of businesses that are ready to open also find the customers are not coming. They do not have confidence they are ready and safe. I lay out here, and i dont want y, how i think we should approach it. What responsibility i think the federal government has to begin ofdeal with us getting out this dark hole we are in. The first one we have been saying for a long time. You have to guarantee testing and you have to guarantee the availability of personal protective equipment. For anybody called back on the job, period. It has component parts. Direct the federal government to provide regular and reliable covid19 tests for every worker called back to work. That should be able to be tested and paid for by the federal government. Will payal government for all the testing. Make it available that we have rapid results and for the duration of this crisis, be able to continue to do that. Secondly, ensure all workers and all communities have access to effective personal protective equipment. We already know we dont have it if there is another bounce back. We dont have equipment ready see statesxt you theyre showing an increase in hospitalizations. Sure. Ve to make we may have access to personal protective equipment across the board. No worker should be forced to give up benefits and returned to work in unsafe conditions unless they have protective care. We third part of that is have to ensure workers and unions have a voice in reopening plans. Hese decisions i have a detailed plan. We have to be able i think we should establish and i will establish what we call a , notmic testing board unlike what roosevelt did during the depression. To surge testing nationwide and rampup distribution of ppe. The federal government has not taken responsibility for where that equipment goes. I think dwight joined me, i joined dwight three months ago saying we should have a Central Commander like all military equipment, there is supply officer. Need the same kind of supply officer nationally to know where the need is and what equipment is needed and how to get it. Parenthetically, what i think we should be doing right now is, were i in office, i would be taking 25 billion, putting a vaccine czar in charge when we get this vaccine, how will it be distributed . Where will it go . How will we guarantee it will be able to be distributed to all americans . The same thing is going to happen, if god willing we get a vaccine. Maybe even in the fall. I doubt it. Probably beginning of next year. Where does it go . We are going to be facing the same kind of dilemma. Howdoes it get to whom, and does it not get the way in which all of this legislation you have passed, most of the help went to the very wealthy. Went to the corporations. Went to the people who hang out at maralago. And did not get where it was designed to get. 40 of the money for Small Businesses, only 40 got there. And it got there in a way im sure you can talk about. That is the first part of this. I think we have to guarantee paid leave, federal paid leave,. Or anyone who gets sick they should not have to choose between their paycheck and their health. What i would do, i havent laid would ensurethat i paid leave for all workers who get sick from covid. For as long as they need to recover and have a complete quarantine. Caring foranteein family members who have covid. They should be able to be off and not have to work. Worker also ensure protection and accountability. You, i knowome of anybody involved with labor knows about the Occupational Safety and health administration. They should be sending down rigorous standards for the context in which it is safe to inpen and how you reopen terms of not just social distancing, but for example, meatpacking plants, slowing down the line. Making sure there are plastic dividers. That is the job of Occupational Health safety. They should be doing that across the board to give advice to Small Businesses how they can and should open. Now, we have to be in a position where there is rigorous standards protection for all the workers who go back. Cover, for example we do not cover a lot of Public Employees directing other agencies. Everyone should be covered by this. We are ordinarily covered by the period of this crisis. Finese to pursue tough for larger businesses that do not abide by these. I am beginning to get bored by my own talk here. Why dont i, instead of going through this, why dont we talk about give me your sense of what you worry most about going to work, opening, and having to close, why you closed and opened your business, and what you think Small Businesses need the melt the most help in. I will talk about contact tracing, protecting Older Americans, theres things we can do. Assistanceechnical to Small Businesses from accounting capabilities, lawyers, things to have access to when they are needed out there. We should have, for example, a safer Shopper Program. A business abides by all the rules that are set out to enhance the probability someone can walk in safely and everything is being met. They should be able to get a certificate. Put it on the window of the business. Precautionsken all that are rational and necessary to protect the safety of the customer. Theres a lot of other things we can do. Why dont you talk to me about what is on your mind, what worries you most about your business, what worries you about thank youing to for your national endorsement. We should be, for example, having the circumstance where if we have the whole idea of the thing congress did in terms of the care act was to keep people employed. I suggest we have not just an unemployment system, but employment system. Insurance. If you have 25 workers and you have enough work for 12, you pay them on the roll, you them half pay and the federal government makes up the rest so you are able to keep the workforce in place throughout the time. The whole idea is once you are laid off, once you leave, the longer you are out, the harder it is to be reemployed later on. Especially if in fact you are a minority. Re rather than me going through everything i think we should be doing, tell me what if i were if i had a magic wand, what is the thing you would most want me to be able to do to help deal with your business, your safety, and what you think we should be doing to help maintain access. Especially for minority businesses. You heard what the Vice President said to you, we said in the back room, this is your chance. You said that magic wand. In regards to the pandemic, being a Small Business and having to open because the longer we stay closed, i dont make any money. They are more afraid. To come back and contract the virus. What do i do when i dont have ppe . I cant open my store at 100 capacity because by myself, i cannot Service Everyone fairly and give them the service they deserve. I cannot fire my employees because that is my team. I appreciate them and understand what is going on. I dont have any more funds to be able to pay them to stay out and i cant work at full income to runve my business the way i should. If you had a magic wand and if it was up to you and you were in a place to do so, to make it easier for Small Businesses like mine, not Small Businesses like maybe i shouldnt say names, but but the larger corporations that are considered Small Businesses, to make it easier for Small Businesses that have anywhere between 20 and less employees. Have access to capital, to have access to Government Funds to help you to continue to pay your employees. Frmr vp biden let me ask you a question. How many employees do you have . Six. Frmr vp biden you have three outlets . I have two, i had to close one. The one i had to close was three employees. Frmr vp biden what is the overhead beyond salary . It doesnt have to be a number. Did you have enough money for rent or improvements you needed to make to cope with covid, to be able absolutely not. Frmr vp biden did you seek help getting grants to do that . I did. Frmr vp biden what happened . I was able to get a grant. Was able to get a loan i was able to get a grant from the merchant fund. They were small grants. I know it had to be spread around. I was lucky enough to get those grants. They were gone within a day because my bills exceed what i got. This congress has been talking about the new act they passed, Senate Republicans are holding out. Whether or not you are able to loan forjust a overhead, but a grant, if you are keeping people employed, you get significantly more money to be able to deal with overhead costs. That is everything from electricity to heating, airconditioning, opening doors, whatever. That is not a loan. That would be a grant. One of the things i propose here is we dont have very much information from a medical standpoint on what the impact of covid is from a parent to a child or newborn. I propose we spend a fair amount of money and research focusing now, providing research now, zeroing inocuses on on what is the impact, what are the impacts, on Young Children of parents who are you may be exposed to covid. They are scared to death, as you said. The last thing i want to do is go to work, i could be someone who is not showing signs of having covid. Thats why the testing is so important for people coming back to work as well. The notion of whether or not youre going to be able to restart a small things thate of the i have indicated before is too much of the money in these programs has gone to big business. Most people dont think 500 employees is a Small Business. Yoursin businesses like that have fewer than 50 employees, some as low as 10, they are the ones getting crushed right now. Also thee have to have Technical Assistance to be able to provide Small Businesses like yours with the ability to have access to accountants and lawyers and others, how you , take how you qualify full advantage of what is out there that is not being taken advantage now. I really think one of the things we have to think about is testing and tracing. That also is going to take a lot of pressure off employees coming back to work to know when they go home they are going to not be taken home to their families, if they are taking care of an elderly mom or they have a sixmonthold baby. Allequires also to have protective gear and the safety circumstances required. Every business is slightly different. Tell me about your business. Tell me about dealing with eyewear. Do you do testing . We do. We are fullservice. I have up to optometrists i have optometrists and it was tough to get them to come back. We did follow cdc guidelines. Because they work closely with closely, and we work with the patients, we have to be in close proximity. We do try to take temperatures. We do require everyone to wear a mask. We have hand sanitizer. Those things are running out and it is hard to get. When i need hand sanitizer, now. m going to the store an eight ounce bottle is 15. I need 10 bottles to last the month. Supply for my patients or my customers that come in. Frmr vp biden i think that should be covered by the federal government. I think it should be, too. Frmr vp biden but im serious. The way the law was written, it was intended to be able to be covered. What happens is people do not know enough to know what it is they could qualify for and what they missed. When people are coming to the center, when their businesses are in trouble, what do you tell them . What is the most frequent thing you get asked . Capital. I want to make one point. Shes one of our clients. Example of anood entrepreneur working in what i would call the old economy. We are facing an economic reset. Theres going to be a new economy. Someone like tiffany who requires a strategy of somebody coming in her door to get glasses, we had this conversation, she now needs to pivot to build a Technology Infrastructure for a for ecommerce. I can center my prescription, i can look online, and she can still generate revenue while we continue to figure out this covid19 pandemic and ppe. She does not have the dollars to invest in that Technology Platform that she needs in order to be ready for this new economy. Going back to your questions and my response around capital, right, if you were driving to this building here, you entered into a distressed community. Orders, because i am bossy, is that as you look at these distressed communities, i would like for you to change your lenses and look at them from the standpoint, how do i we my influence and how do . Ay those strategically one of the biggest things is under supply of capital. See tiffany to become a multimillionaire, ok . Capital as a the Service Provider to invest in her. We dont want to be dead to lenders. Lenders. O be debt we want to be equity investors. All we can do is make her alone. What we are doing is stacking on more debt. It puts her in a position where she is a risk manager versus a growth manager. Frmr vp biden i got that. Thats why this is not the totality of what i have done. I will double the amount for sba and Small Business loans and cut Interest Rates on it. You know this stuff. You have another one, too. What i was trying to get at is the immediate concern of this moment. I see this in two phases. How do we deal, with the stimuli to keep the economy from completely collapsing . How do we reinvest in the future . How do we bring people to a different place . That require significant investment. I call for over a trillion dollars in increased spending by the federal government on infrastructure, including giving everything from housing to a w