- June 29, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Minority-owned businesses in Kansas City had a harder time than their white counterparts applying for and receiving federal Paycheck Protection loans, a program set up to help small businesses continue paying employees during the pandemic.
Businesses in majority-white areas of the city received loans at 1.7 times the rate of businesses in majority-Black areas, according to a review of data by the Center for Investigative Reporting.
Chris Evans experienced the struggle first-hand. He said his business – T-Shirt King Inc. – was having its best year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. But once COVID-19 hit, there was a dramatic decrease in demand for his products – items like group T-shirts and other pieces with logos on them.
“It got real very, very quickly,” Evans said. “I can remember being naive at first, like, OK, it’s not gonna have a major effect. And then all of the orders that were in the pipeline were completed and shipped,…
