Twitch CEO Emmett Shear just gave $1 million to a San Francisco baker to launch a nonprofit that will help small businesses amid a citywide shutdown to contain the coronavirus

• Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is giving $1 million to a San Francisco pie baker to start a nonprofit that will strive to keep small businesses afloat.
• The nonprofit has been dubbed SF New Deal, and its first program will be paying restaurants to deliver food to vulnerable residents, like those who are homeless.
• San Francisco's small business scene has taken a hit as the city and the rest of the Bay Area have been subject to a shelter-in-place order to contain the coronavirus disease.
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San Francisco's small business scene has taken a hit amid the coronavirus pandemic, and one tech CEO is aiming to alleviate some of the strife.

Emmett Shear, CEO of San Francisco-based live-streaming gaming platform Twitch, gave $1 million to the women and minority-owned Three Babes Bakeshop in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood, as Eater SF reported. The money will be used to form a nonprofit to keep small businesses afloat as the virus keeps people indoors and a shelter-in-place order calls for nonessential businesses to shutter.

Shear and Three Babes Bakeshop owner Lenore Estrada have been friends for 20 years, according to Eater SF. They have dubbed their nonprofit SF New Deal, and its first order of business will be paying restaurants to deliver food to the city's most vulnerable residents, such as older residents who cannot leave their homes and those who are homeless. The regionwide order allows restaurants to provide food via takeout or delivery, so this new mechanism will create additional business.

SF New Deal has 30 participating restaurants already, according to Eater SF, and is working with the City of San Francisco, UCSF mental health services, and the SF African American Faith Based Coalition.

As Eater SF reports, about 60% of the shop's business came from tech companies like Google and Lyft before the coronavirus pandemic and shelter-in-place order became a reality. The shop also took a hit back in early March when Pi Day typically saw sales spike through the roof but were instead dampened by the onslaught of social distancing to combat the virus. Estrada was forced to lay off 20 employees after seeing an 85% drop in sales.

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