Katherine Raz

Then make it easier for people to open restaurants.

from people magazine Donald Trump Confuses Dementia Screening for 'Very Hard' IQ Test as He Brags About Results The president predicted that Democratic Reps. Jasmine Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could not perform as well as he did in a cognitive exam By Greta Bjornson | Updated on October 28, 2025 10:24AM EDT

from people magazine Donald Trump Hosts Great Gatsby-Themed Halloween Party as 42 Million Americans Brace for SNAP Benefits to Expire The president hosted the Roaring '20s bash at Mar-a-Lago on Oct. 31 amid the ongoing government shutdown By Bailey Richards Published on November 1, 2025 06:19PM EDT

someone invited people magazine to the kitchen and they brought their own knives

I love this place.

This is why the Goldman Sachs #10000SmallBusinesses Summit felt so gross and out of touch to me. Celebrating growth and wins—such a disconnect from working people’s experience of the economy right now. #neveragain #10ksb

Some Chicago Businesses Feeling the Impact of Trump’s Immigration Blitz

Hey turns out immigrants were still building America until 3 weeks ago. I feel for these businesses—they’re not the problem.

Drifting Toward the Status Quo — what works Why do ambitious and unconventional missions so often erode into something more like the status quo?

In other words why was AI going to save humanity but now is just integrating with Canva.

I'll be fine walking through the barren wasteland of whatever is left so long as I have a way of listening to Boards of Canada's Geogaddi as a soundtrack.

Scenes from a trade show Or, on the horror of realizing we're participating in a global race to the bottom

This was the post that started my Substack. I wrote it in the Atlanta airport. It's a rant about how everything you see in "independent" boutiques is made in the same places, but also why, as small retailers, sourcing locally is a challenge. This was in 2022, before Trump's tariffs.

Small Business Rising Small Business Rising is a coalition of independent businesses and entrepreneurs who are standing up for a level playing field. We’re urging elected leaders and regulators to break the power of monopo...

VIRTUAL BRIEFING: Why do mega retailers like Walmart, Amazon, and dollar chains get better deals from suppliers than independent businesses do? They use anticompetitive tactics, undercutting local retailers on price. RSVP for Oct 28th: www.smallbusinessrising.net

POLITICO Pro: White House eliminates entire Community Development Financial Institutions Fund staff The fund had been under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration, which had proposed eliminating the program in its latest budget proposal.

Maybe irrelevant by now though… Trump just fired everyone.

CDFIs Shouldn't Act Like Banks, But Too Often Do When receiving bank funding, CDFIs often limit their investments in accordance with bank restrictions. How can reforms to the Community Reinvestment Act help center the needs of underserved communitie...

The more you know! 💫 “When a CDFI receives capital from a bank, it must abide by that bank’s set rates and terms for investing the money into a community—the same communities these banks have historically failed to invest in.”

Also the Main Street America survey is back. Really important data collection that people like me rely on—this is one of the only surveys that talks to small businesses of our size specifically!

Fed survey for 2025 is out. Probably fill it out if you own a small business and want to talk about financing gaps.

[SLIDES] Championing Owner Occupied Storefronts Download the slides from my PLACES Conference presentation—and share them!

Here are my slides from the PLACES Conference this week in Gig Harbor, WA. You can download them directly from this post! Also has a link to my 45-min virtual presentation, available to paid subscribers.

Part of the reason I struggle working retail in my shop now is that I have no idea what to say when a customer compliments how nice the whole district looks these days. 🙄 IT’S A TRAP!!!!

Craft Breweries Struggle as Sales and Appetites Wane

They mention “pricey commercial lease” a couple times here but the focus on why breweries are shutting down is more “consumer appetite,” not because that’s what the data shows but probably because that was a more fun story for the reporter. But PRICEY COMMERCIAL LEASES. Always a factor…

Where the fuck is Pritzker as ICE terrorizes the whole of Chicago today? Helicopters and cars everywhere. Invading hospitals. Gassing grocery stores. Why is he sending state cops to protect ICE rather than using every possible resources to throw ICE the fuck out of Illinois?

From the LoganSquare community on Reddit: ICE incident at Rico Fresh Explore this post and more from the LoganSquare community

This is a block from my bff’s house in Chicago. Her teen kids walk here every day. This is outside their local grocery store. #ICE is just tear gassing civilians.

If you're going to the PLACES Conference next week be sure to check out my session guide that highlights the programming most relevant to running a small business or advocating for them.

Wait did Robert Putnam in Bowling Alone ever tie the lack of participation in civic life to the decline in home ownership and increased cost of living?

How Righteous Panic Over Arts Funding Could Cost Us Tacoma’s Future, and What to Do Instead. - GRIT CITY MAGAZINE Photos by Sierra Hartman You’ve heard it a thousand times:  1. Landlord leaves building empty 2. Community transforms vacant building into desperately needed music venue, cultural center, arts space, ...

SMH these big arts organizations in Tacoma don’t support a measure that would dedicate 6% of (albeit a limited) arts budget to capital acquisition. Itinerancy is the killer, friends. I’m going to City Hall tonight to ask council members to vote yes on this.

Love a lightly romantic spam.

In the Shadow of the Obama Center, Chicago Residents Fight Displacement Investors are snapping up homes in the South Shore neighborhood, but a new tenants union is fighting back.

Chicago just passed a landmark plan to protect Black communities from displacement.

Read more about the years of organizing behind it: inthesetimes.com/article/obam...

If your community thinking about organizing better support of local biz to strengthen the local economy, now is the time to read this great interview with Vicki's friend and colleague, Kimber Lanning of Local First Arizona. In big cities, small towns, rural communities, local prosperity is possible!

I get that CDFIs bridge the funding gap for those excluded from traditional financing... but that is literally all owner occupant small business today. The hoops you have to jump thru & the paternalism is 🤯. It's like sweetie if you go CDFI you should expect... [this level of bullshit] because 🤷‍♀️.

FOR A BUSINESS PLAN. My response to that was essentially, "Are you fucking kidding me," to which the lending officer replied, I shit you not, "You can consider using ChatGPT to create a Business Plan Sunmary [sic] of the expansion."

... then they asked me, "Why do your projections start in June, 2026?" I said, "That's when we're opening in Centralia." The response: "How will you pay the monthly payments before you're operational?" My reply: "With personal savings." After which I was asked... are you read for this? >>

... signed "no credit elsewhere" and "use of funds" statements plus, because of past loss which means "the business doesn't cash flow," 🙄 projections for 2 years at our new location, foramatted two ways: 1.) Centralia projections only and 2.) Combined projections. SO I SENT ALL THIS AND...