Fewer than a third of Paycheck Protection Program loans of at least $150,000 in Baltimore went to areas of the city where minorities make up the majority of the population — and most of those loans didn’t go to Black-owned businesses, a Baltimore Business Journal analysis found.
While the Small Business Administration has released only limited data about PPP recipients, the available information combined with other recent studies and surveys provides a more complete view of how Black-owned businesses could not get access to the government’s critical lifeline during the pandemic.
System racism in the banking system — well known but not often discussed openly — has hit home as Black businesses have largely been left out of a process aimed at saving small businesses in a time of crisis. The numbers back up the anecdotes Black business owners have been sharing since the start of the PPP loan process in April. A look at loans made in majority-Black areas shows PPP relief money mostly eluded Black businesses.
