Hispanic chamber works to link businesses, PPP money
Last fall, as the pandemic continued to hobble the economy and health experts predicted that the holidays could bring another surge in COVID-19 cases, Melanie Marie Boyer, director of the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, began calling her members.
About 60 small businesses belong to the chamber, and 70% of them told her if they didn’t get relief, they might have to close.
Hispanics are among the racial minorities who have been hit hardest by the pandemic, and many Hispanic Americans were shut out of funding sources, like the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program created last year to help small businesses weather COVID-19 shutdowns.
During those check-in calls, Ms. Boyer realized most of her chamber’s businesses were struggling, but “many knew another round of [federal] assistance might be coming, so a lot of them held on,” she said.
Congress in December approved an infusion of $284 billion in PPP funding, and now the Hispanic chamber is trying to ease the process for its members to get a share.
Through a partnership with Customers Bank in West Reading, Berks County, it has made available a streamlined PPP application that can be processed in English or Spanish.
“We realized, unfortunately, there were many smaller and minority-owned business owners that last year got left out, and we wanted to do something for them,” said Miguel Alban, senior vice president and director of multi-cultural banking at Customers Bank.
Customers Bank, which successfully processed about $5 billion worth of PPP loans last year, did not have a specific program for minority businesses in the first round, he said.
To promote its new PPP application, the bank reached out to community lenders and other agencies that help minority entrepreneurs. To date, it has signed on with 28 partners, including the Pittsburgh Hispanic Chamber, the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce and the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Participating agencies receive a 1% referral fee from the bank for each loan below $350,000 and could get a higher fee for larger loans, “though we know most will be below $350,000,” Mr. Alban said.
Hoping the money comes
Felipe Rojas Orta, of Wilkinsburg, who completed an application last week, is among those hoping money comes through.
Mr. Orta, 46, owns a landscaping and snow removal business that last year received a PPP loan totaling just $1,000.
“I was kind of upset,” he said. “Even though it was free money, it wasn’t enough.”
He used his loan for equipment and had to put hiring on
hold — including a job for his brother, who had planned to relocate from Mexico.
Much of Mr. Orta’s business dried up because regular customers were tending to their own lawns and gardens. Some were working from home and had time to do it; others had lost their jobs and couldn’t afford his services.
Those who kept him working were mainly single moms juggling jobs and young children, he said.
As the busy spring landscaping season approaches, longtime customers are telling him they are not sure whether they can afford him this year.
Mr. Orta’s wife has a job with a food bank and has worked throughout the pandemic.
But the drop in income from his business has meant the
couple, their two sons and a grandson avoid going to restaurants “and we do nothing extra or fancy,” he said.
Targeting the smallest businesses
Last year, the U.S. Small Business Administration’s PPP program doled out $523 billion in loans that have a 1% interest rate and are fully forgivable if used on payroll, rent and other operating expenses. Employers with fewer than 500 workers were eligible; the maximum loan amount was $10 million.
Earlier this week, the Biden administration announced changes for the second round of PPP funding, which aim to make it more accessible for the smallest of businesses.
The tweaks include a 14day window that began Wednesday during which only enterprises with fewer than 20 employees can apply.
Also, the funding formula was revised to provide more money for sole proprietors, independent contractors and self-employed individuals.
Mr. Alban commended the new administration for trying to get more funds to minorities but said the PPP rule revisions have added confusion and questions, he said. “We have to do a lot of handholding.”
The second round is scheduled to close on March 31 but could be extended, he said.
Too late for some?
The new round of funding may be too late for Jo
Ana Vaz, whose healthy foods delivery business was forced to shutter after the pandemic hit.
Ms. Vaz, 40, of McCandless, launched PIT Shop in 2016 to provide fruit and healthy snacks, such as avocado chips and granola bars, to businesses. When the pandemic sent office workers home, her accounts plummeted from 42 to one.
She attempted to pivot to home deliveries but had challenges getting employees because they could earn more on federal unemployment insurance. That included $600 per week in supplemental benefits in the early months of the pandemic.
Ms. Vaz donated her inventory to 412 Food Rescue and moved her business out of a rented warehouse in Point Breeze.
She didn’t qualify for the first round of PPP because she had no employees on her payroll.
Ms. Vaz applied through community development lender Bridgeway Capital for a state grant program that allocated federal funds to small businesses that didn’t get PPP money.
She was put on a waiting list for months. In December, she finally received a $20,000 grant that she used to pay off back rent for the warehouse and other bills.
Now she is collaborating with a national nonprofit, Common Threads, that helps underserved communities with healthy eating initiatives.
Her business is still on hold because of uncertainty about when — and if — workplaces will resume normal operations.
“I get teared up thinking about it, but I have to be realistic,” she said.
Ms. Vaz, who grew up in Puerto Rico and came to Pittsburgh to study at the University of Pittsburgh, kept another job as a language translator during the pandemic, while her husband continued his job in cyber and strategic risk management.
Despite the loss of her business, the pandemic “brought a lot of unity for my family,” she said. Her husband is traveling less, and both of them can focus on their 17-monthold son, Oliver.
She also remains active in Hispanic Chamber activities.
The organization’s virtual events “gave me a little sense of hope and community that even though my business wasn’t running, I was part of something,” Ms. Vaz said.