Displaying items by tag: Financing

Since April, when the $2 trillion COVID-19 Stimulus Bill was passed and the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) began to address COVID-19’s financial hits, the first study to look at the novel coronavirus’ impact on Black and Latinx business owners, conducted by the Color Of Change and UnidosUS, found that 45 percent of these businesses will have to close by the end of the year, and only one in 10 reported that they had received funding.

The landscape of summer artist shows and vending spaces has come to an abrupt stop amid the coronavirus pandemic, and Black artists and entrepreneurs are scrambling to maintain the human and business connectivity typically developed through those seasonal events.

While Black entrepreneurs have complained about problems with the Small Business Administration’s financial assistance programs owners and advocates of Black banks say they could be a help and a resource of information and capital for Black firms during the coronavirus pandemic.

OneUnited Bank, the largest Black-owned bank in the country, is proud to announce the launch of its Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program. OneUnited Bank, a Preferred SBA 7(a) lender, is offering PPP loans to its existing and new customers on a nationwide basis through its state-of-the-art online and mobile banking platform.

While many businesses are allowed to reopen in Georgia, some black small business owners are struggling with the decision, especially since black Americans appear to be at higher risk when it comes to Covid-19.

The novel coronavirus pandemic has severely impacted small businesses around the country with many seeking federal relief to keep their workforce and operations afloat. Despite government stimulus incentives and loans through the broken PPP program, black business owners are uncertain that federal relief will be enough for them to save their business.

The owners of Ben’s Chili Bowl’s flagship restaurant in northwest D.C. say that despite a glaring reduction in revenue brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, they remain committed to keeping their lone standing eatery afloat.

Sage Ali, who along with his elderly mother Virginia and other family members had expanded their business to seven restaurants at one point, told ABC News that while their small diner on U Street had survived the riots of 1968, they’ve never endured a financial fallout to the extent that the virus has left them to deal with.

Although the family applied for a Paycheck Protection Program loan under the newly crafted federal government-operated stimulus package, they said they’ve been stuck in limbo as lawmakers who passed the $484 billion relief package clashed over how best to spend the funds on other rescue programs.

“I’ll be honest with you, it’s a little bit emotional. To tell Mom we didn’t get that loan, it was hard, seeing her face,” Ali told the news network. “Mom is 86 — a very young, very sharp 86. Mom understands very well the financial situation right now, and she knew how critical that funding was. So, for me to get off the phone and walk into that other room and say, ‘Guys, it didn’t go in,’ that was a very tough moment for me.”

Ali said that after applying for a PPP loan at Citi First of DC, it seemed like bank officials kept coming back for more information.

“We were following the guidelines — go to one bank at a time — but we got left out,” Ali’s wife Vida said, ABC reported. “I was shocked when the money was out.”

Yet the family has committed itself to keeping the U Street location up and running.

“The second it opens up again, we should be going right in,” Sage said of the PPP program.

“You want to be confident. You want to be hopeful,” Ali told ABC. “U Street could never close. We’re telling Mom, we can’t close that location after everything you did to survive. Even if it’s down to five people. Whatever it takes.”

Source https://www.washingtoninformer.com/owners-of-bens-chili-bowl-determined-to-keep-restaurant-afloat/

A survey conducted by Alignable of 38,500 small business owners from April 17-20, 2020, shows only 8 percent have received money, and another 14% were approved for it, but aren’t sure when or if it’s coming.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — A $500,000 grant from the National Park service will be used to renovate buildings along Tulsa’s former Black Wall Street, nearly 100 years after the area was largely destroyed and as many as 300 people were killed in one of the nation’s deadliest outbreaks of racial violence.

The $2 trillion stimulus package agreed to by the White House and Senate will inject significant capital into small and large businesses across the country, just not President Trump’s.