"Small businesses, obviously the life blood of a town like San Francisco, we give so much in taxes and so much to schools and so much in donations. Because it's maybe not that much money as an individual, it's not recognized, but it's a huge thing. And San Francisco wouldn't be the same without all of those places." - Lisa Sherratt

In this episode our featured voice is Lisa Sherratt the owner of serendipity, a specialty gift and card store. Over this past year of producing this series, we have been looking for data on the impact on small businesses from the combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic collapse. Since San Francisco’s first shelter-in-place order on March 17 of 2020 to February 9 2021 open small businesses have dropped by over 50 percent according to new data compiled by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce. Between March to July of 2020 the Hamilton Project estimates that four hundred thousand small businesses nationwide closed their door permanently.

Delve deeper into Voices of the Community Series on Arts & Culture, Making the Invisible-Visible, Covid-19's impact on nonprofits, small businesses and local government, City of Stockton's rise from the ashes of bankruptcy and our archives: You can explore episodes, speakers, organizations, and resources through each series web page. Watch and learn from all five series now!