Amara Omeokwe

speaker

439 appearances 11 recordings 1 series first heard Mar 2020 last heard Dec 2023

Amara Omeokwe’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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WSJ Your Money Briefing · Making the PPP Loan Process Easier for Minority-Owned Businesses · 2 Jun 2020 podcast

And that tends to especially be the case with, for instance, small businesses that are owned by people of color and small businesses that have smaller revenues. voice-verified

And so we were hearing when the program first launched about concerns that underserved groups wouldn't be able to access the program. voice-verified

So one thing officials in the Trump administration have been saying is that they really wanted to boost participation among lenders that tend to serve underserved and minority communities. voice-verified

So for instance, the administration has been saying that it is really focusing on boosting participation among community development financial institutions. voice-verified

These are lending institutions that have an express mission of lending to businesses in low income areas and other underserved communities. voice-verified

So the administration has been saying that what they're really trying to do is target underserved borrowers by targeting the lenders that serve those communities. voice-verified

the Paycheck Protection Program application did not ask borrowers to provide optional demographic information. voice-verified

And that is a departure from what the SBA does, for instance, through its flagship loan program, which is known as the 7A program. voice-verified

So when borrowers go to apply for that program, they are asked to provide demographic information. voice-verified

And the SBA then uses that information to track how the money is being dispersed along racial, gender, and ethnic lines. voice-verified

The SBA did not include a space for that on the Paycheck Protection Program application. voice-verified

So there's no way to really track directly how the loans are flowing to minority communities. voice-verified

We've been hearing from some small business advocates that some black businesses are hesitant to apply because of the terms of the program and because they have very small payrolls. voice-verified

So they don't have a lot of employees. voice-verified

And of course, the Paycheck Protection Program determines the amount of loan that a business should get. voice-verified

based on the size of their payroll. voice-verified

And so we heard, for instance, from the U.S. voice-verified

Black Chambers that some Black businesses are still hesitant to apply because they don't feel like they'll be able to qualify for a loan that's big enough to actually help them weather this crisis. voice-verified

That's right. voice-verified

So the program's average loan size has dropped from about $206,000 in mid-April to roughly $115,000 in late May. voice-verified

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