April 28, 2020

$349 Billion COVID-19 Small Business Program Short-Changes Businesses of Color

Federal lawsuits allege systemic lending biases 

By Charlene Crowell

The University of California at Riverside recently reported that employment at Black-owned businesses was on the rise. But in the wake of federal programs to assist businesses hurt by

COVID-19, the Center for Responsible Lending now says as many as 95 percent of Black-owned businesses stood no chance of securing a program loan.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - A $349 billion program created to assist America’s small businesses was launched on April 3 to provide payroll, utilities, rent and more for eligible applicants screened by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). On April 16 – less than two weeks later -- this national stimulus enacted in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, ran out of funds.  In separate but related legal actions, federal lawsuits were filed, challenging the lack of equitable access to the stimulus program.

On April 19, four class action lawsuits challenged banks’ use of PPP (Payroll Protection Program) funds. Filed separately in the U.S. District Court’s Central California office, the lawsuits are against Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

While this legal process unfolds, the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) estimated that as many as 95 percent Black-owned businesses stood no chance of securing a program loan. Other communities of color were similarly likely to be shut out as well: 91 percent of both Latino-owned and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander-owned businesses were financially shortchanged.

At the same time, businesses of color together are responsible for employing 8.7 million people and represent 30% of all U.S. businesses. Additionally, the combined contributions that these businesses make to the national economy is a noteworthy $1.38 trillion.

Days later on April 21, an additional $310 billion for the PPP was approved by the U.S. Senate and is expected to be quickly passed in the U.S. House. Even so, some reactions to the new funding suggested that it was still too little and needs to better address how Black and other businesses of color can fully participate.

“This bill distributes most of the funding again to large banks that prioritized wealthier businesses over small ones,” said Ashley Harrington, Federal Advocacy Director with the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL). “Businesses of color were locked out of round one of the SBA PPP, and this Congress proposal fails to assure that they will have fair access to the new $60 billion small business appropriation. Nor does it ensure equity and transparency by requiring data tracking on borrower demographics and loan amounts to be collected or reported.”

“While it is a good and necessary change to include set-asides for community banks to reach more businesses and rural areas, the bill fails to dedicate targeted funds for use by minority depository institutions (MDIs), and community development financial institutions (CDFIs),” added Harrington. “These are the institutions with a strong track record of serving borrowers of color. Both MDIs and CDFIs should have access to this vital small business support.”

The set-asides included in the new appropriations bill allocate monies to institutions based on bank size alone. Since over 98 percent of banks and credit unions fall into the allocation that includes CDFIs and MDIs, it is highly unlikely that these institutions will be able to access the funds – especially as the monies will have run out before these two types of institutions would be able to secure SBA approval.

The new set-asides included in the new appropriations bill allocates monies to institutions based on bank size alone. This provision places CDFIs and MDIs in direct competition with better resourced smaller institutions like community banks for loan funds.

PPP was a federal response that was supposed to supply funds through June 30 to small businesses and nonprofit organizations. It was created as part of a $2 trillion, national rescue plan authorized through the CARES Act. Instead, it is now no longer accepting applications or approving new lenders in the program. The program’s loans were capped to no more than $10 million and came with an explicit exclusion of businesses based outside of the United States. For six months, loan payments would be suspended and under specific and verifiable conditions, the loans also could be completely forgiven.

PPP applicants were required to interact with banks and other existing SBA lenders. For communities of color, this specific condition meant beginning, not continuing or expanding financial relationships. Fees paid by the federal government to participating financial institutions were based on the size of loans approved for originating program loans. For example, American Banker reported recently that on a $10 million loan, bank fees would be $100,000, and fees for a $350,000 loan would be $17,500.

Together, these two program requirements gave larger small businesses quicker and greater access to these loans. Instead of providing needed relief for struggling businesses, the PPP is just the latest iteration of federal funding and resources being systematically withheld from individuals and people of color.

A similar reaction to the exhaustion of funding was expressed by Orson Aguilar, director of economic policy for UnidosUS (formerly LaRaza) that champions rights for Latinos.

“We know that many companies did not benefit because they do not have banking relationships and that is a requirement,” said Aguilar.

Through the assistance of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, 111 organizations across the country, including CRL, jointly told Congress their collective concerns over the exclusion of relief to communities of color in the federal pandemic response.

“Communities that have already been marginalized by structural barriers to equal opportunities and who have low levels of wealth are particularly vulnerable during this current emergency,” wrote the civil rights advocates in an April 16 letter. “While many working people have been sidelined, many others are still providing essential services during the crisis – working at our grocery stores, delivering mail and packages, and providing care to vulnerable people – putting their lives at risk, often at reduced hours and wages, to keep our country running.”

“The ongoing crisis has laid bare the structural racism and barriers to opportunity that are entrenched in our society, and our collective actions now must not worsen them,” concluded the coalition.

CRL identified specific ways in which the COVID-19 federal response can become more inclusive. Its PPP recommendations include:

Charlene Crowell is a Senior Fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

April 21, 2020

NEWS ANALYSIS

Coronavirus Has Made Incarceration a Potential Death Sentence
By Jesse Jackson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - This week, the New York Times featured the story of how the coronavirus savaged the Federal Correctional Complex in Oakdale, Louisiana. On March 28, Patrick Jones, 49, serving a 27-year sentence for possession of crack cocaine with the intent to distribute, became the first federal inmate to die of the virus.

Barely three weeks later, seven inmates had died, at least 100 inmates and staff members had been infected, with more than 20 hospitalized — and an entire community terrorized. The prisoners died, unreported, unknown, their bodies essentially owned by the federal government that imprisoned them.

According to corrections officers there, the warden was slow to act, saying that “we live in the South and it’s warm here. We won’t have any problems,” a haunting illustration of the dangers of loose rhetoric and tall tales from the president, amplified on social media.

The horrors of the Andover, New Jersey nursing home — with at least 70 residents dead and dozens more testing positive — has dramatized the vulnerability of the elderly in nursing homes, where over 7,000 have died. Our grossly overpopulated prisons and jails are quickly becoming the next centers to be ravaged by the disease.

Cook County Jail, the largest in the country, is already one of the nation’s largest sources of infections, with more confirmed cases than the USS Theodore Roosevelt or the New Rochelle, New York cluster. Four inmates are dead and 215 have tested positive, as have 191 correctional officers and 34 other sheriff’s office employees. One employee just died.

We know the most about Cook County because Sheriff Tom Dart has been the most open. Many are suffering and dying of COVID-19 because sheriff’s offices around the county have not been very open and are not testing. The jail is overwhelmed. The sheriff and jail workers need more hands on deck. For every shift change, the virus is recycled in the community.

A state prison in Ohio is now the largest reported source of coronavirus infection in the United States. I called President Trump and urged him to make testing, tracing and social distancing a priority for those in jails, nursing homes and prisons. The workers, inmates and communities where the workers live all need help.

In Ohio, 2,300 prisoners in three prisons have tested positive. In prisons and jails across the country, inmates locked up for nonviolent crimes or while awaiting trial, and older, vulnerable inmates near the end of their term, among others, sit in terror, fearful that they face a death sentence.

Prisons and jails are virtual petri dishes for the virus. Social distancing is impossible. Soap and water are often not available.

Correctional officers have no choice but to mix with inmates. Many inmates are poor, often with health problems — asthma, diabetes, heart conditions, stress — that make them more vulnerable to the virus.

Prisons and jails have begun — although far too slowly — to react. Cook County Jail has reduced its population from 10,000 to 4,200, partly because of bail reform, some from courts sentencing fewer nonviolent offenders to prison, some from early release. Soap and disinfectants have been made available. Those with symptoms are isolated from the general population. Visitors and volunteers are not allowed, often at great psychic cost to inmates.

Facilities are cleaned more frequently. In some prisons, inmates have been locked in their cells for 22 hours a day to limit human interactions.

But — as is true for the general population — testing is often not available. Too few are tested too seldom. That puts not only prisoners but corrections officers and their families, and the people they interact with at risk.

Not surprisingly, prison uprisings have begun, as terrorized inmates demand protection and more information. Corrections officers have joined in lawsuits to get adequate protective equipment, information, and testing. Too often, it is too little and too late.

There is no defense. Clearly, at the federal and state level, prison officials should speed the release of nonviolent offenders, of the elderly and the vulnerable. Universal testing is an imperative. Prisoners need more access to soap and water. And both prisoners and corrections officials need protective gear — from masks to gloves — and, most of all, information on how to protect themselves.

Donald Trump informed me that he had made his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, the point person on prison reform. The time for aggressive action is long past. Prisons should be made a priority for supplies, for tests, and for early release of as many inmates as possible, particularly the elderly and the vulnerable.

If the pandemic continues to spread through prisons, the toll in lives will soar.

As the pandemic exposes once more, it is a moral outrage that the U.S. locks up more people than any other country, including China. Prisoners are disproportionately poor and people of color, too often victims of institutionalized racism that still puts African American young men at greater risk of being stopped by police, charged, and jailed if convicted.

Even without the virus, that is a disgrace. Now the virus is turning incarceration into a potential death sentence.

April 28, 2020

Let Prisoners Go During COVID-19 Pandemic
By Jesse Jackson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Across the United States and across the world, prisoners are among the most vulnerable to the coronavirus. Overcrowded facilities, shortages of food and medicine, and totally inadequate testing expose prisoners who are disproportionately poor and afflicted with prior conditions that render them vulnerable to the disease.

Prisoners increasingly are protesting their conditions, objecting to being sentenced to die in prison.

Experts across the world are urging governments to reduce their prison populations swiftly. Michelle Bachelet, the United Nations high commissioner for Human Rights, warned that “The consequences of neglecting [overcrowded conditions] are potentially catastrophic.”

Many countries have begun to act. Turkey’s parliament authorized the release of 45,000 prisoners. Indonesia has released at least 30,000. Even Iran’s dictatorial regime has released roughly 85,000 detainees, while dealing harshly with those protesting the risks.

The United States locks up more people than any other country in the world, largely because of harsh and wrong-headed policies. Fifty-five thousand are detained in jail awaiting trials, too poor to pay for their freedom under the current cash bail system that is prevalent in many states.

The Prison Policy Initiative reports that 48,000 children are incarcerated on any given day. Many are charged only with “status offenses,” such as truancy or homelessness. The Health and Human Services office in charge of the custody of unaccompanied undocumented minors reports that 2,000 are locked up. The New York Times reports that 59 in custody have already tested positive for COVID-19.

In California, The Marshall Project notes, more than one in seven prisoners are over the age of 55. The percentage of those 55 and older in prison in the country has tripled over the course of this century.

As Piper Kerman, author of “Orange is the New Black,” wrote in the Washington Post, this is largely the result of prison sentences that are longer than those imposed by any other country. “Elderly probationers and parolees have some of the lowest recidivism rates of all former inmates. Releasing such people poses very low public safety risks and will have a dramatic effect on preserving public health.”

After an outbreak killed six inmates in a federal prison in Lisbon, Ohio, U.S. District Court Judge James Gwin decried the “shockingly limited” amount of testing, noting that the prison has received fewer than 100 tests, while a state prison of similar size had done about 4,000 tests. Two federal prisons in New York City reported that they had tested a total of only 19 inmates since the outbreak began; 11 were positive.

This has to change before the pandemic spreads, and prisons across the country go up in flames as prisoners’ riot against their conditions.

Inmates awaiting trial, the elderly, the afflicted, and those who have served much of their sentence should get early release, if possible quarantined at home to ensure they are safe.

The space freed up should be used to provide more “social distancing,” while emergency steps are taken to provide adequate medicine, protective equipment like masks and gloves, and food.

Correctional officials need particular priority, for they are most at risk and, if infected, could spread the virus in the local communities. And the failure to provide adequate testing in prisons and jails, as well as in society as a whole, is utterly inexcusable at this late date.

The crisis should also lead to larger reforms— drastically reducing sentences while expanding alternatives to incarceration, ending the cash bail system and the practice of locking poor people up while they await trial, expanding parole, reducing the overcrowded and primitive conditions of too many jails and prisons.

The virus is like getting hit by a club across the head. Perhaps that might help bring us to our senses.

April 14, 2020

Credit: U. S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - As Coronavirus cases have risen to well beyond a half million confirmed cases in the United States, it can be difficult to remain positive, minimize anxiety and work through times of painful transition and uncertainty.

Psychologist Dr. Esther Hyatt, PhD., a retiree from the New York City Department of Education, shares a few tips that could benefit Black people during the quarantine. She advises the following:

Plug out

Being able to turn off the news for a bit and disconnect from technology. Dr. Hyatt emphasizes the importance of turning off the television, walking away from the computer and separating from your phone. While technology can seem to keep us in the loop, it is also imperative to not make technology a lifeline.

“We must learn to remove electronic stuff,” says Hyatt.

Jonathan Comer, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at Florida International University says overexposure to the news does not help awareness. Instead it can contribute to increased fear and anxiety. Comer also shares that checking in a few times a day versus all day generally does not provide you with more information.

“You definitely must turn off the TV,” says Hyatt.

Get enough sleep 

Sleep is essential. In quarantine it can be easy to oversleep, therefore, it is important to maintain healthy sleep habits in order to be energized, reduce stress levels and provide support to your immune system.

“While sleep requirements vary slightly from person to person, most healthy adults need between 7 to 9 hours of sleep per night to function at their best,” reports Help Guide, an organization dedicated to mental health & wellness.

With the extra time afforded to folks during the pandemic it is very important that sleep be a key part of your new daily routine, emphasized Dr. Hyatt. Although reality has changed and most people are not getting up for work or traditional in-person class, it is just as important to maintain

“We should make sure we're getting an adequate amount of sleep, not oversleeping under sleeping to maintain healthy lifestyle habits throughout turmoil, like this,” she says.

Exercise

Exercising and getting your body moving doesn’t have to be strenuous, involving heavy machinery, weights or recorded workouts. While those things may benefit some people, exercising can be as simple as stretching, walking or moving your body in small rotations.

“You can begin with your feet, by first moving your toes and moving up to your arms,” says Hyatt.

Dedicating a portion of your time to improving your exercise habits gives you a sense of weight control, strength management, and energy.

According to Mayo Clinic, daily exercise contributes to lowering risks to cardiovascular disease, something that disproportionately affects African-Americans. Regular exercise has also been linked to the prevention and management of stroke, metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, depression, anxiety, many types of cancer, arthritis, and falls.

“Lead a healthy life by doing your exercises,” says Hyatt.

Eat healthy

According to NPR, while about 75 percent of people think they live healthy lifestyles, 80 percent don't eat enough fruits, veggies and whole grains. Despite what most people think, they do not consume enough nutrients but instead they consume less fruits and veggies and exceed recommended amounts of sodium, added sugars and saturated fats.

“We need to eat foods that are healthy for us and that will benefit our body,” says Hyatt.

During a time where people are self-isolating and staying home, it is important to practice healthy eating habits. Fruits and vegetables can be superfoods that help your body function well and fight infection and disease.

Not forgetting to drink water regularly is critical. Water plays a large role in healthy digestion and contributes largely to eliminating toxins from the body.

“You must remain hydrated and drink a lot of water,” says Hyatt.

Utilize the free time at home  

Dr. Hyatt urges Black folks to take time to move around the house and find something to do that you may have been putting to the side. Whether that be cleaning out an old closet, rearranging a room, painting the basement, decluttering a storage room or donating unused items to those in need, finding something indoors to keep busy not only keeps you moving but it exercises the brain and allows for another thing to be checked off the to-do list.

It is also imperative that this time be used to also “face the reality of what is going on,” says Hyatt.

Coming to grips with your feelings can be helpful to use this time wisely and be intentional with yourself and validate emotions that you may have surrounding the pandemic. It is okay to feel those things and acknowledge them. Normalizing feelings is important during a time where heightened anxiety is expected.

“Remember that anxiety and stress are completely normal reactions. Rather than try to talk yourself out of worrying, give yourself a program to follow: Staying well-informed, taking common sense precautions, and finding time to clear your mind. And know that it’s OK to seek help from a professional if you’re having trouble managing stress and anxiety on your own,” wrote Dan Harrah for Mercer Behavioral Health Consulting Group.

Once acknowledging personal feelings, people can begin to focus on other things and utilize the free time to be more productive.

While productivity can mean different things for different people, as long as it is safe, indoors and makes you feel happy, go for it says Hyatt.

According to Hyatt, activities like knitting, crossword puzzles, art and these activities play an integral role in channeling the brain's attention and focus. This can also be working on building self-confidence through positive affirmations and relaxing with music.

“Music is great,” says Hyatt. “We all have things that bring us joy, find that thing and do it inside.”