What's Happening with the Payment Protection Program?
COVID-19 Response: AAPI Small Businesses Apr 28, 2020

What's Happening with the Payment Protection Program?

The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act passed into law on April 24, 2020. This bill is seen by leadership as an interim measure, until a more comprehensive bill is proposed later this month.

National CAPACD has joined its allies in DC and our member organizations to ask members of Congress to advocate for our communities and push for a number of measures to improve the Paycheck Protection Program. Our goal is to get smaller, neighborhood businesses and those owned by communities of color greater access to the resources. It seems this interim measure makes little progress for our communities. Here is what came out of the interim measure:

  • An additional $310 billion to restart the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program and  $50 billion more for emergency disaster loans;
  • A total of $60 billion of this funding would be set aside for Insured Depository Institutions, Credit Unions, and Community Financial Institutions (CDFIs), i.e. smaller lenders to reach the “underbanked”;
  • A set aside sounds good, but $30 billion will be set aside essentially for about a little more than 100 banks and credit unions.
  • The remaining $30 billion is set aside for lenders with less than $10 billion in assets - which a lot. This means that CDFIs, the community lenders who know how to work with many of our communities and have existing relationships, will be competing with larger banks and credit unions for this pot of funds.

There were no changes to the incentives to give larger loans, and it is first come first serve. If the bill is signed as is, here is what you can do...

What you CAN do to help small businesses apply for PPP: 
If small businesses have not yet applied, it is expected that the additional resources put into the program will move very quickly. Here are the key steps to help prepare your small business clients:

  • Identify a lender right away: If a business has not applied yet, identifying a lender to work with is the first step. If a business has applied but is not making progress, consider a different lender.The best choice is probably where you have a relationship. Please note that some banks are giving preference to those with whom they have a business banking account versus a personal banking account. If you don't have a good banking contact, get a referral from a trusted partner. A community bank in your region might be a good choice. You can also identify a credit union here or CDFI here.

 

 

  • Submit your application with your identified financial institution

 

  • Contact your Lender - Again: Don’t just apply once and hope for the best. Make sure to stay in touch with the lender and ensure your application is processed. Some lenders are asking consumers to sign notes before approval. Once issued an SBA Loan Number, the application is approved and in process.

 

  • Beware of Scams! National CAPACD members across the country are reporting to us an increase in the number of scams and predatory activities targeting small business owners, many of whom are limited English proficient and are seeking assistance to access capital. Small Business Majority has provided some helpful tips and reminders for your clients on how to avoid predatory lending and scams.

For in-language information and other resources, you can check our AAPI PPP tracking resource of information that has been shared by National CAPACD's members and partners, and National ACE’s webpage here.

AAPI Owned Businesses are a Significant Part of the Economy of COVID-19 Hot Spots[1]

There are over 1.3 million AAPI-Owned Businesses in the 30 metropolitan[2] areas with the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases, including

  • Approximately 1.3 million Asian American owned businesses;
  • Approximately 20,000 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander owned businesses.

Business ownership data is from the 2012 Survey of Business Ownership (SBO).

The Top-20 COVID-19 Hot Spots include the following places with especially significant concentrations of AAPI owned businesses (top-5 based upon % of AAPI owned businesses):

MSA # of AAPI-Owned Businesses % of AAPI-Owned Businesses (of all privately owned businesses)
San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA MSA 113,660 24.7%
Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, CA MSA 296,798 20.4%
New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA MSA 302,592 14.0%
Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA MSA 38,243 12.9%
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV MSA 70,426 12.7%

[1] COVID-19 Hot Spots defined as a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in which at least one county has 150+ confirmed cases of COVID-19 and where the total MSA has at least 3,000 confirmed, active cases

[2] As of 4/22/20, the 30 MSAs (listed in order of # of cases) which meet the above Hot Spot definition are:  1. New York, 2. Boston, 3. Chicago, 4. Detroit, 5. Philadelphia, 6. Los Angeles, 7. Miami, 8. Washington DC, 9. New Orleans, 10. Atlanta, 11. Seattle, 12. Bridgeport, 13. Houston, 14. Indianapolis, 15. Providence, 16. Denver, 17. Baltimore, 18. Dallas, 19. New Haven, 20. St. Louis, 21. Hartford, 22. Allentown, 23. Riverside, 24. San Francisco, 25. Nashville, 26. Columbus, 27. Worcester, 28. Phoenix, 29. Las Vegas, 30. Springfield, per https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html#g-cases-by-county,