COVID relief as ‘dangerous money’ for Black business owners

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study examines Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) experiences of a sample of Black business owners in a mid-sized city amid the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores how Black business owners made sense of the Paycheck Protection Program, and how they came to regard it as an untrustworthy source of economic relief or even a dangerous trap. Less than half of the small business owners we interviewed applied for PPP, and those who did, did so with great trepidation. We find that experiences of Black business owners with the PPP are informed by the longstanding barriers that Black businesses face accessing financing from financial institutions.