The bold headline at the top of Page 1 in PBN’s first digital-only edition in its 34-year history says it all: KNOCKED DOWN, BUT NOT OUT.
It applies not only to PBN, which has temporarily halted its print edition due to the health risks and economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic, but to the entire state and its economy. Stories in this week’s edition document the toll state and local restrictions on the size of gatherings and business operations, including some forced closures, have taken.
Tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders have been laid off at an unprecedented pace. The hospitality and tourism industry, one of the strongest sectors in the state economy, has been devastated by restrictions on travel and a ban on dine-in service.
Federal aid is on the way for small businesses, some of which have already qualified for related disaster-relief funding, but will it come in time for those who need it most? James Mark, who owns two popular restaurants in Providence, initially shut them down due to health concerns. He soon reopened one for takeout after seeing his bank account drained to $600.
But there’s still a pulse – and plenty of heart and fight – left in the state’s business community. Gov. Gina M. Raimondo has done everything she could to keep as many businesses that directly serve the public at least partially open for as long as possible. Even if she does eventually shut more or all of those businesses down temporarily, many companies have used the additional time her measured approach to managing the health risks and economic crisis has given them to transition more workers to telecommuting and new responsibilities.
Rhode Island manufacturers are also aggressively transitioning to help meet Gov. Raimondo’s call for local production of medical supplies, should hospitals get overrun as they have been in harder-hit states.
Locally based businesses and nonprofits have begun stepping up. Woonsocket-based CVS Health Corp. plans to hire 50,000 workers nationally.
Providence-based Citizens Bank has set aside $5 million for charitable contributions for small businesses and communities locally and in other states.
PBN this past week began a new feature spotlighting some of those businesses, workers and organizations stepping up to meet the myriad challenges created by the pandemic.
And, particularly heartening in what is surely now a global recession, community giving has soared. A COVID-19 Response Fund set up for nonprofits by the United Way of Rhode Island and the Rhode Island Foundation had raised $4 million by March 20.
On April 1 the United Way still plans to hold its inaugural daylong 401Gives Day, with approximately 375 nonprofits hoping for an economic infusion that would allow them to momentarily set aside their own survival fears to continue helping others.
Knocked down? Swiftly and almost without warning. But definitely not out. Rhode Islanders are already setting the wheels in motion for a recovery from a crisis we’ll one day look back on with sadness, yes, but also pride for having persevered.
