Banking on Inequity

Reveal

The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX

News

4.7 • 8K Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2021

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Congress spent hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue small businesses hurt by the pandemic. But Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) money disproportionately went to White neighborhoods, leaving communities of color behind.

Small businesses are the heart of Los Angeles’ many neighborhoods. Reporter Laura C. Morel talks with business owners around Los Angeles who either received PPP money or faced insurmountable hurdles to get one of the forgivable loans. Morel talks with a Latinx barber in the Florence neighborhood, where just 10% of businesses got PPP loans. In a predominantly Black area of Inglewood, we meet clothing store owner Annie Graham, who couldn’t get a PPP loan last year, even from a lender who hooked up with Magic Johnson to specifically help minority- and women-owned businesses access the government lending program. In Graham’s neighborhood, 32% of businesses got PPP loans. Meanwhile, in the majority-White neighborhood of Playa del Rey, 61% of businesses got PPP loans. The disparity among neighboring communities is striking.

We end with an interview with reporter Gabriel Thompson about fast food franchises that received PPP money. One McDonald’s owner in Chicago got half a million dollars, but workers there filed multiple complaints with OSHA because they felt they were not protected from COVID-19.

This show is guest hosted by Sarah Gonzalez of Planet Money.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Alan. I hope 2022 has been a good year for you. But to be honest, it's been a tough one for us.
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0:41.0	Just visit revealnews.org slash 2023. Again, to donate to the show and to support our work into the future.
0:48.0	Please visit revealnews.org slash 2023. And from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
0:58.0	From the Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, this is Reveal.
1:09.0	I'm Sarah Guinsales, one of the hosts of NPR's Planet Money Podcast.
1:13.0	I'm sitting in for Al Letson, who's working on a new serial from reveal that you're going to be hearing a lot more about in the weeks ahead.
1:21.0	So, I live in Los Angeles, and one thing about LA is that even though all together it is huge, it's really just a bunch of little neighborhoods.
1:30.0	I mean, I like everything about all around here because I'm from here. It's where I grew up at.
1:34.0	Andrea Bryant is from South LA.
1:37.0	I have a two-cambo and a one-time feature with a large camera.
1:43.0	She's picking up take-out from John's Fish Market there. It's one of her favorite spots.
1:47.0	This one place I eat my fish from, they fish is really good.
1:50.0	Andrea grew up about 10 blocks away.
1:52.0	So, this is like this urban area, like I said, Hispanic symbolics, everybody calls this.
1:57.0	You get any high-size ketchup, the tartar sauce?
1:59.0	The person working the counter is Sam Cho. He hands Andrea her shrimp combo.
2:04.0	Sam says the pandemic has scarred the neighborhood.
	...

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