Week 7: Continued Independent Research on Asian American Businesses

Hi everyone!

This week I turned my attention to examining existing published research done by the Asian American Federation and continuing my examination into oral histories that document the perspective and struggles of the Chinatown community.

On Wednesday, the Asian American Federation released a new report titled “Restoring New York’s Economic Engine: Tapping the Strength of Asian Businesses.” This resource has become available at the perfect time for me because with my on site research I have turned my attention to observations while this research report gives me the opportunity to tap into existing data that directly shows information about Asian American businesses as well as policy recommendations on how to help them.

A constraint of this resource is that it relies on data about Asian businesses growth, employment, and earnings from 2012 and 2017. Thus, when discussing businesses growth over the last few years, it excludes to account for the struggles brought on by gentrification, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the xenophobia that has been associated with the Asian American community.

However, this report has a chapter devoted to discussing the pandemic’s setback to Asian American businesses. It’s just that when talking about business growth, it does not factor in the impact of the pandemic from the last two years. The Asian American Federation breaks down policy changes that can be applicable in three areas: Financial Assistance, Language Access, and Workplace Development.

The report essentially validates one of my conclusions with factual data and accounts that COVID-19 is a huge factor in why businesses have been struggling and are finding it difficult to recover. The report points out that there are still policy decisions that can be made that can help Asian businesses climb out of this struggle. The government needs to be transparent, have a more equitable application process that makes sure that businesses that are excluded because of the industries they are in or neighborhoods they are in, should partner with community based organizations to make sure neighborhood businesses get access to resources in their languages, and more. The words written in the report echo the conclusion I have drawn on my own and are similar to what I have seen in the merchant surveys that I collected and sorted the research on a few weeks back.

Before ending my blog post, I want to quote a part of this research report that perfectly sums up my reading and answers my research question. “Asian American communities in the New York metro area have not only been dealing with the health impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but also with its economic repercussions, which have been equally catastrophic. According to the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, areas with high concentrations of Asian-owned businesses in New York City suffered a disproportionate loss in consumer spending when compared to the rest of the city.” 

Thanks for reading!