ReShonda’s Story
ReShonda Young, Founder, Popcorn Heaven, Waterloo, IA
I both witnessed and experienced lending discrimination for my franchisees and myself as I’ve tried to fund and scale my businesses. After being denied a 90-day $5,000 loan for my 20 year old retail business last year, and given my past experiences with discrimination with the private lending system, I decided that pursuing a PPP loan was not worth my time.
I did try to help small business owners in my network apply for the PPP by going through the application with them and helping them get set up on accounting software. Many of these business owners did not have strong banking relationships with any 7(a) lending institutions so I saw denial after denial. One did receive a paltry $6,000, even though she owned two businesses, much less than she needed or requested. It’s still not clear how this discrepancy happened, but I’m hearing stories from minority-businesses like this all over.
It’s clear not having a strong banking relationship, or strong accounting software, or a CPA on the team, which is the story of many small and micro-businesses, was a major barrier to the PPP program. Doubling down on the PPP and using the 7(a) lending system for another loan program will not fix any of the inequities that I’ve seen in the previous rounds for small businesses, particularly minority-owned businesses. It feels like this proposal is tone deaf to our needs.
Going through the private lending systems continues to solidify racial wealth inequality and widen the ever-expanding wealth gap. There is urgent need for direct support that is not loan based. There needs to be support for local programs like Senator Cory Booker’s Equity Act, or direct grants for micro businesses like Senator Kamala Harris’ Save Our Streets Act.
Twice as many Black-owned businesses have closed. Without adequate support, many more jobs and businesses will be lost. Small businesses and their workers' needs go hand in hand. We need each other as employers and as customers. I’m directly asking my Senators from Iowa Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley to support your small businesses and minority communities who desperately need help right now, not just supporting Iowa’s largest and most wealthy businesses, including giving millions of dollars to Iowa’s only billionaire.