Welcome to Towns Together. Towns Together is an initiative to help you find and support the local businesses in your city that may be affected by COVID-19-related restrictions.
COVID-19 is ravaging our our world and its impact on our communities has been catastrophic. Apart from the numerous people infected by the novel coronavirus and the casualties it has inflicted, the economic burden imposed by the disease has also been immense. With the “stay at home” orders and social distancing keeping customers at home, small businesses have been hit hard and could really use our help.
UPDATE, June 5: The COVID-19 crisis could have a disproportionately negative impact on minorities and minority-owned small businesses due to multiple reasons:
- They tend to face underlying systemic issues that make it more difficult to run and scale successfully
- They are more likely to be concentrated in the industries that are most affected by the pandemic
- Likely due to existing health disparities, COVID-19 hospitalization and mortality rates are disproportionately higher in minorities like African Americans and Hispanics
Therefore, at Towns Together, we are trying to make a conscious effort to add more of those particularly hard-hit small businesses – minority-owned small businesses – to the list. We hope you can add to that growing list and support these businesses.
Even if we aren’t leaving home like we used to or eating out as often, we can still support our local favorite spots like restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries, and barbershops by buying gift cards. These gift cards we buy could help “flatten the curve” of income lost by our local favorite spots as they put money in their pockets right away. So if you can, buy one now and make a plan to use it later. Further, as restrictions start to ease, many restaurants are offering takeout and delivery, so ordering food to-go or having it delivered from them would be yet another great way to support them safely (and enjoy your favorite food!) while you continue to practice physical distancing.
Click on your city to find and support a local favorite of yours.
We rely on crowdsourced information to build a robust and accurate list of small businesses in individual cities that people can find and support, so we hope you will add your favorite local restaurants, coffee shops, and hangout spots to this list.
(Don’t see your town? Help us include your local faves in your city by adding the information here. Once there are enough entries, we will try our best to add your city to the list.)
Have questions or suggestions? Please reach us at hello@townstogether.org
