KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The number of small businesses applying for loans through the Federal CARES Act has jumped five times since late March, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, but not everyone is being granted the money.
Joey Thomas, who owns 180V Barbershop on East 18th and Vine streets, said he still did not receive any clarity about his business’s status, even after speaking with the Small Business Administration.
"For me, my disparities [were] just getting clarity even when I talked to representatives and agents that work forSBA, I got questions that they still can't answer,” Thomas said.
After hearing of unanswered questions and claims of inequalities among the black, Asian, Hispanic and LGBTQ chambers in Kansas City, Missouri, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver organized a conference call with local salons and barbershops to discuss the concerns.
”I heard from them horror stories about their inability to access those dollars,” Cleaver said of Missouri’s 5th Congressional District. ”We're seeing disparity in the recipients of the money."
Closed for nearly two months, Thomas applied for the Paycheck Protection Program and has yet to hear back.
"It was just a lot of miseducation from my standpoint when I talked to other professionals and or business owners in our type of industry,” Thomas said.
On a call with members of the Senate last week about this issue, Cleaver said they told him they would be concerned, except they have no data to support the claims.
Cleaver said the Department of the Treasury was not keeping any records on the subject until he asked Secretary Steven Mnuchin to do so a couple weeks ago.
"There is some exclusion, and if you add race on top of it, it gets even worse,” Cleaver said.
Thomas said that he believes there will be “some racial disparities.”
The answer to the problem, according to Cleaver, is that they are either going to have to “go deep into the laws” or potentially set up a special entity to handle small and minority businesses.
Once the data comes back from Mnuchin, Cleaver intends to present it to the Senate.
