Initiative Faculty Directors Professor Adair Morse and Professor Laura Tyson led efforts to develop the State of California’s new fund to support small businesses devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Morse and Tyson came together with faculty from the UC Berkeley Law School, industry leaders and statewide policy makers to create the California Rebuilding Fund. On Monday Sep 17th, over 70 city mayors and public officials from across California joined a call to learn more about the Fund and how to participate, supporting the small businesses in their communities.

The California Rebuilding Fund, a new public-private partnership announced last week by the Governors’ Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz), uses government-backed capital to support the state’s small businesses. The fund is targeted  particularly toward the smallest firms and entrepreneurs from communities that have been historically disenfranchised.

“The state put many groups together to try to get the best of the best ideas,” said SAIF Faculty Director Professor Adair Morse, who helped develop the structure for the fund. “We all came together to try to optimize a plan for the people of California.”

Read more in this Haas News article

Learn more about the Fund’s disbursement and strategy in this presentation.