AIRPORT VOICE, MAY 2020 23
Congress people
contact Treasury
PPP needs to include minorities
89 members of Congress, including
Senator Schumer, wrote a letter
to the U.S. Dept. of Treasury and
U.S. SBA, requesting that they ensure
equitable access to the Paycheck
Protection Program. The
members of Congress wrote that
the Small Business Administration
must ensure that minority-owned
businesses are not shut out of the
program and require lenders to report
on the demographics of any
PPP lending. In the letter sent to
Secretary Mnuchin and Administrator
Carranza: Congress authorized
the Paycheck Protection Program
(PPP) to provide financial
support and stability to small businesses
affected by the COVID-19
pandemic. Yet we continue to hear
from minority-owned businesses
that they face structural barriers to
acquiring these loans. To ensure equitable
access to this program, the
U.S. Small Business Administration
(SBA) must ensure that minorityowned
businesses are not shut out
of this program and require lenders
to report on the demographics
of any PPP lending. We also request
that the SBA and Treasury amend
guidance on PPP to reaffirm lending
institutions’ obligation to comply
with fair lending laws. Small
business lending discrimination
remains a pressing public policy
challenge. The Federal Reserve
Banks’ 2016 Small Business Credit
Survey found that of all minorityowned
firms approved for loans,
only 40 percent received the full
amount requested, compared to 68
percent of white-owned firms with
similar credit scores.1 The Minority
Business Development Agency
(MBDA) reported that minorityowned
businesses are less likely to
apply for small business loans due
to fear of rejection.2 Without affirmative
attention from policy makers,
these disparities likely will
repeat in PPP loans. The Paycheck
Protection Program is a first-come,
first-served program, leaving those
without existing bank relationships
or lines of business credit at a
major disadvantage. People of color
are less likely to be approved for a
loan, and when they are approved,
it is often for smaller amounts with
higher interest rates than those offered
to similarly situated white
borrowers. To that end, we urge you
to work with lenders to ensure fair
access and require lenders to report
on PPP lending to minority-owned
businesses relative to their overall
lending through the program. This
data must include information on
loan applicants and outcomes, disaggregated
along racial and ethnic
lines. Additionally, though issued
guidance excludes applicants with
criminal history, including those
who were charged but never convicted
and those who have already
served their sentences, nothing in
the CARES Act requires this prohibition.
This guidance is especially
troubling considering the rampant
racial disparities in our criminal
justice system. This exclusion exacerbates
existing inequities in access
to credit and lenders should
report the number of loans rejected
on this basis. Even as overall business
formation fell, minority-owned
businesses accounted for half of all
new businesses created in the last
decade. Between 2007 and 2017, minority
owned businesses managed
to grow at ten times the rate of all
small businesses, dispelling any notions
about their viability. The success
of minority-owned businesses
in the face of structural discrimination
only underscores the necessity
of fair lending laws and the duty
to enforce them. Unfortunately, the
interim final rule issued by SBA
makes no mention of protections
like the Equal Credit Opportunity
Act (ECOA) or the Truth in Lending
Act (TILA), raising doubts about the
Administration’s commitment to enforce
fair lending laws essential to
protecting small businesses seeking
to participate in the PPP. We urge
you to revise the interim final rule
to reaffirm that fair lending protections
apply to PPP loans. As we work
to secure additional funding for the
survival of small businesses across
the country, it is crucial that we can
verify the accessibility of federal assistance
to all eligible companies.
Gateway JFK funds
food donation
Benefits Queens frontline workers
BY BILL PARRY
GatewayJFK, the business improvement
district in southeast
Queens, recently sent 745 meals
from neighborhood restaurants to
frontline workers at Jamaica Hospital,
the MTA, the Department of
Sanitation, Wildcat Sanitation Services,
the NYPD and the Port Authority
Police Department.
In addition to donating meals
as a way to say “thank you” to the
frontline workers, GatewayJFK
launched the effort as a way to help
local restaurants open and keep
their staff working.
To provide the meals, GatewayJFK
partnered with five anchor
restaurants in their neighborhood”
Rockaway Plaza
Delicatessen, New Castle Deli &
Grocery, Boulevard Deli & Grill,
Patriots Deli & Grill, and Jamaica
FlavorsRestaurant and Bakery.
“Before COVID-19 our neighborhood
had 8,000 workers, but
with the stay-at-home orders in effect,
we became concerned that our
restaurants would have trouble
staying in business until things
got back to normal,” GatewayJFK
Executive Director Scott Grimm-
Lyon said. “Having great places
to go for lunch is key to attracting
businesses to the area, and an
important amenity for building a
community for both residents and
workers.”
GatewayJFK got the idea after
they saw similar efforts by the
Sunnyside Shines BID last month.
GatewayJFK is a public/private
partnership that is dedicated to
making a 215-acre commercial and
industrial district along Rockaway
Boulevard a clean and safe space to
live in, work in and invest in.
“Donating meals seemed like a
great way to make sure our local
restaurants stayed in the black,
and to offer gratitude to people putting
their health at risk and working
very hard through this crisis,”
Grimm-Lyon said.
More than 400 meals went to
workers at Jamaica Hospital. In
addition to hospital workers, GatewayJFK
made a special effort to
say thank you and donate meals
to frontline workers who have not
taken center stage during the coronavirus
pandemic.
“Our workers signed up to help
the city, and we’re proud to serve so
thanks are not necessary, but it’s
nice to be seen and appreciated,”
DSNY Queens 13 Superintendent
John Addeo said. PAPD Lt. John
Ryan also said his staff was happy
to be included on the list of frontline
workers, and John Hein of the
MTA JFK bus depot thanked the
BID for remembering and recognizing
them. In addition to sending
meals to frontline workers,
GatewayJFK has provided direct
outreach to more than 350 businesses
in their district and offered
assistance in navigating government
grants and assistance programs.
If you are a business owner
in southeast Queens and require
assistance, visit https://www.gatewayjfk.
org/.
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